Ogden Police Officer Hoyt L. Gates
was shot and killed on February 11, 1941.
The manager of the Safeway Store,
301 24th Street, was talking to his wife on the telephone when a man entered
the store and announced a holdup. The manager told his wife to call
the police and was forced to drop the phone. A call was received
at the police station to send an officer and Detective Gates went to the
business, unaware of the situation inside. He found the front door
locked and started banging on the door. A clerk opened the door and
tried to warn Gates to pull his gun but the robber immediately began firing.
Gates swung to one side to make certain all the clerks were out of the
line of fire and the robber shot him four times. Gates returned fire
but the shots went wild. Gates staggered out the front door in a
final attempt to reach the rear door where the robber had fled. Gates
died five minutes later of internal bleeding. At the time of his
death, 38-year-old Detective Gates had been a police officer for five years,
and was the father of one son and one daughter.
- This page, along with the State Memorial at Utah's Capitol, is maintained by the Utah Peace Officers Association in behalf of Utah's Fallen Officers - may we never forget their ultimate sacrifice
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- upoa@upoa.org
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