Chief of Police Walter Eugene Markel

Walter Eugene Markel

Chief of Police Walter Markel was shot and killed while attempting to stop a jailbreak at the Lawrence County Jail at the courthouse square.

A prisoner had obtained control of a deputy's gun and took three deputies hostage. The man forced the deputies to free three other prisoners and hand over several other weapons.

The sheriff's wife was alerted to the incident as it was occurring and called Chief Markel, who rushed to the jail with Police Officer Charles Giles. Chief Markel went into the jail, immediately grabbed one of the suspects, and exchanged shots with the others. Chief Markel was struck in the chest and killed instantly. One of the suspects, who was wounded in the shootout, then shot Officer Giles as the officer put his hands up to surrender, paralyzing him from the waist down.

Two Ohio Highway Patrol officers had also been alerted to the jailbreak. When they arrived at the scene, they took up defensive positions in the front of the jail. As the prisoners led the four deputies out of the front, the highway patrol officers told them to surrender. Two of the suspects immediately surrendered, but the fourth opened fire. The suspect was killed in the return gunfire from the patrol officers.

Patrolman Giles remained paralyzed from the chest down and died as a result of complications of the wound on November 26th, 1988.

Chief Markel was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran of WWII and had served with the Ironton Police Department for 15 years, three of them as the Chief of Police. He was survived by his wife, son, and daughter.