Michael Bruce Keen, Officer

Muldrow Police Department

Shortly after 11 P.M. on Wednesday, June 23, 1982, Officer Keen and his partner Officer Donald Wayne Edwards set up a roadblock on SH – 64-B in Muldrow in an attempt to stop a stolen Chevrolet Camaro being pursued by officers from Roland, Sallisaw and the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office. The Camaro did not slow for the roadblock and got around it as the two Muldrow officers fired shots at it. The Camaro was being followed closely by Sallisaw Officer Steven L. Boy. Officer Boy attempted to avoid the Muldrow Police unit and struck Officer Keen knocking him into Officer Edwards and against a guardrail. Officer Keen was dead at the scene. Officers Edwards and Boy were treated at a local hospital. His wife and two children survived Officer Keen. Officer Keen died less than hour before his thirty-third birthday.

Lincoln Keeney, Deputy U.S. Marshal

U.S. Marshals

In late November of 1894, Deputy Keeney arrested Bill West for disorderly conduct in Miami, Indian Territory. West managed to get out of his handcuffs and escaped. A few days later on Saturday, November 24, West rode up to Deputy Keeeney at a blacksmith shop in Fairland, nine miles south of Miami, fatally shot Deputy Keeney in the head and rode out of town. West was later arrested but escaped from jail in Fort Scott, Kansas on March 24, 1895. The next year he was arrested again in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

James A. Keirsey, Officer

Seminole Police Department

About 8 P.M. on Thursday, November 7, 1929, Officer Keirsey was one of four officers who surrounded the home of Sam and Ruth Dyer in Harjo where a group of bank robbers were suspected to be hiding out. Officer Keirsey and State Crime Bureau Agent Claude Tyler covered the backdoor, Seminole Police Chief Jake Sims going to the front door and Seminole County Deputy Sheriff George Hall covered the side of the house. Chief Sims was met at the front door by Owen Edwards and the two men started firing at each other. Edwards, wounded in one shoulder, then ran for the back door. Agent Tyler had taken the Dyers into custody and Officer Keirsey had stepped in the back door with his gun drawn. When Edwards saw Keirsey he opened fire on him with his two .45 automatic pistols, hitting him numerous times, killing him. Keirsey was able to return two shots before dying. Chief Sims and Agent Tyler then shot and killed Edwards. Officer Keirsey, 41, was survived by his wife and three children. A year later Keirsey’s brother, William Con, would die in the line of duty also

William Conway Keirsey, Deputy Sheriff

Carter County Sheriff's Office

About 5:30 P.M on Wednesday, December 10, 1930, Deputy Keirsey, 34, and Undersheriff Vernon D. Cason went to Wirt to check on a stolen car. The officers soon located the car in front of a three-room shack. There were two apartments. As Cason entered one, Deputy Keirsey was admitted into the other by an elderly woman. Keirsey observed several women and children and one man in the room. When Keirsey asked about the car out front, a second man, that Keirsey had not seen laying under some covers on a bed in the corner of the room, rose up holding two guns on the deputy. The first man then drew a gun also. Undersheriff Cason then entered the room and was shot in the abdomen by one of the men, Colquitt Davis, 19. Cason returned fire hitting the other man, D. I. Davis, 21, twice. Deputy Keirsey then jumped on the already-wounded D. I. Davis. During the struggle, Keirsey was shot in the chin. The bullet ranged downward, severing his windpipe and passing through his left lung before lodging in his back. The Davis brothers then fired two more shots at the fallen Cason but the shots only grazed his neck. The brothers then left in Deputy Keirsey’s car. Undersheriff Cason survived his wounds but Deputy Keirsey died the next morning, December 11th. Deputy Keirsey was buried on December 12th. That same day D. I. Davis was killed in a shootout with police in Wichita, Kansas. Colquitt was arrested two days later in Hereford, Texas. He was found guilty of the deputy’s murder and sentenced to life in prison. Deputy Keirsey was survived by his wife and six children. Deputy Keirsey’s brother James died in the line of duty the year before.

William Haskell Keith, Officer

Del City Police Department

At 10:53 P.M. on Tuesday, January 12, 1965, Sergeant John Dickinson, 42, and his rookie partner Officer Keith, 26, became involved in a high-speed vehicle pursuit. During the pursuit Sgt. Dickinson had fired at the fleeing vehicle with his revolver and shotgun while Keith drove. Near Southeast 74th Street and South Sunnylane Road the police car went out of control, hit a telephone pole at an estimated 80 miles per hour and rolled over into a ditch. Harry Kenneth Turoczi, 19, was arrested the next day and charged with eluding police and several other charges. Officer Keith died of his injuries a week later at 1:20 A.M. on Tuesday, January 19, his thirty-third day as a police officer. His wife Carolyn and three young children survived Officer Keith. Sgt. Dickinson survived his injuries.

Ernest H. Keller, Chief

Drumright Police Department

About 10:00 P.M. on Thursday, August 10, 1916, Chief Keller, 35, and Deputy Jim Rippey were investigating the robbery of two employees of the Prairie Oil and Gas Company, near the slaughterhouse. The two officers started walking down the Santa Fe Railroad tracks. After going only about fifty feet the officers encountered two men walking toward them. Chief Keller called out to the men to stop when one of them drew a pistol, shooting Chief Keller fatally. Deputy Rippey emptied his gun at the men as they ran away. After Deputy Rippey determined that the Chief was dead he went after the two men with a rifle he borrowed from a nearby house. Deputy Rippey caught one man after wounding him. The second man was arrested at his home near the scene. It soon came to light that the whole affair was a tragic mistake. The wounded man, J. W. Miller, and the other man, R. C. Aubrey were employed by the same company as the robbery victims who had told them of their robbery. When the two officers approached them on the tracks in the dark and Chief Keller called out for them to stop, they assumed they were the robbers and opened fire on them. J. W. Miller survived his wounds.

Ervin A. "Erv" Kelley, Special Agent

Oklahoma Bankers Association

In January of 1932, Kelley retired after serving six years as Sheriff of McIntosh County. He was then hired as a Special Agent by the Oklahoma Bankers Association for the express purpose of hunting down and arresting bank robber Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd. The bankers presented Kelley with a new Thompson submachine gun. Kelley began a three month investigation that led him to Floyd’s wife, Ruby in Tulsa. Kelley placed Mrs. Floyd under surveillance. On April 8, 1932, Ruby Floyd drove to her father’s farm, three miles west and three quarters of a mile south of Bixby in Tulsa County, to meet her husband. Kelley and an eight-man posse that included State Crime Bureau Agent Crockett Long quietly surrounded the farm. Kelley was concealed near the front of the house with his submachine gun with a 21-round clip, a silencer and a .38 pistol. At 2:25 A.M. on the morning of April 9, a green Chevrolet occupied by Floyd and his partner George Birdwell drove up to the farm. The other officers soon heard several pistol shots and saw the Chevrolet drive off. When the officers checked they found Agent Kelley dead. He had been wounded five times with a .45, once under his right arm, twice in the left side and in both knees. Agent Kelley had fired a 14-round burst from his submachine gun as he fell wounding Floyd in his right leg and left ankle. The silencer on the machine gun prevented his possemen from hearing the shots and delayed their response. Agent Kelley was survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters.

William Kelly, Deputy U.S. Marshal/Posseman

U.S. Marshals

On Monday, January 17, 1887, Deputy U S Marshal John Philips and his posse consisting of William Kelly, Mark Kuykendall and Henry Smith were in route back to the Federal Court at Fort Smith, Arkansas with a prisoner, Seaborn Kalijah aka Greene, charged with selling whiskey in the Indian Territory. The group made camp that evening 20 miles northwest of Eufaula (near present Stidham). Deputy Phillips went into Eufaula on business leaving the prisoner with his possemen. When Deputy Phillips returned the next day he found all three possemen dead and the prisoner gone. Smith and Kuykendall had been killed with an axe while they slept, then their bodies had been dragged into the campfire and burned from the waist down. Kelly was a dozen yards away, shot in the back and his head almost severed with an axe. Kelly was survived by his wife to whom he had been married only a short time. After burying his three possemen, Deputy Phillips tracked down and re-arrested Kalijah. Kalijah was convicted of the three murders and hanged at Fort Smith on October 7, 1887.

John Henry Kerr, Officer

Picher Police Department

The evening of Wednesday, March 11, 1987, Officer Kerr and his partner, Reserve Officer Greg Sweeten, became involved in a high-speed pursuit of a pickup truck. The pursuit lasted about eight miles before Kerr lost control of the police unit and it veered off State Highway 137 and smashed into a culvert about three miles south of Quapaw. Officer Sweeten sustained minor injuries. Officer Kerr suffered severe back injuries and died a week later on the evening of Wednesday, March 18 at St. John Hospital in Tulsa, three days before his forty-first birthday. Officer Kerr was survived by his wife Carol, a son, a daughter plus a stepson and stepdaughter. The driver of the pursued pickup, Jerry Buchanan, Jr., 18, was arrested later and charged with several misdemeanor and felony charges connected to the pursuit.

Carl V. "Poncho" Kime Jr., Canine Officer

Tulsa Police Department

About 2 A.M. on Monday, November 5, 1979, while on routine patrol Officer Kime observed an open door on the Sooner Insurance Merchandise business at 5710 E. 11th St. Officer Kime, 29, and his German Shepard canine partner “Smokey” entered the open door to search for possible burglars. Retired Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Herbert Hellen was working as a security guard for the business that night and only minutes earlier had chased two burglars from the store. Apparently Hellen thought they were returning when he saw a silhouetted figure at the door of the office he was in using the telephone. Hellen fired at the figure with a .12-gauge shotgun from about 35 feet away. Most of the buckshot hit Officer Kime in the neck and left side killing him. “Smokey” crawled on top of his mortally wounded handler and held police at bay until other canine officers arrived and were able to coax him away. Officer Kime was survived by his wife, Kathrine and two daughters ages 1 and 8. No criminal charges were brought against Hellen.

William Kirby, Chief

Jay Police Department

Shortly after noon on Saturday, November 23, 1974, Chief Kirby arrested Max Sharp, 39, for public drunkenness. As Sharp was being taken into jail, he began fighting with Chief Kirby and Deputy Sheriff Frank Jackson. The two officers struggled with their prisoner up three flights of stairs. Just as Chief Kirby, 42, put Sharp into a jail cell, Kirby collapsed and died from a heart attack. Kirby was survived by his wife and two daughters. Max Sharp was charged with first degree manslaughter in the Chief’s death.

George Johnson Kirk, Deputy Constable

City of Braggs

On Friday, June 18, 1909, three men attempted to rob the crew of a railroad train as it pulled away from Illinois Station four miles from Braggs in Muskogee County. When shots were exchanged between the trainmen and the robbers, the robbers jumped off the train and the train pulled away. As the train passed nonstop through Braggs, one of the crewmen threw a note onto the depot platform telling of the attempted robbery. Braggs Constable Wicks was on the platform, read the note and summoned Deputy Constable “Johnson” Kirk. Following directions on the note the officers went to the location where the robbers jumped off of the train and quickly located the three men hiding in some woods. As the officers approached the men, one of them slashed Constable Wicks on the arm with a razor and another fatally shot Deputy Constable Kirk in the head. Constable Wicks was able to shoot and capture one of the men, Paul Williams, but the other two escaped. Constable Kirk was survived by his wife Annie and two year old son Conrad.


T. John Kirk, City Marshal

City of Marble City

Just after midnight on Sunday, October 1, 1911, Marshal Kirk ordered a group of men involved in a drunken brawl to disperse and go home or he would arrest them. The “rowdies” turned on the unarmed marshal and beat him “insensible” with clubs. The Marshal died of his injuries 30 hours later at 6 A.M. Monday morning, October 2nd. Six men were arrested for the Marshal’s killing

William "Bill" Kirksey, Deputy U.S. Marshal/Posseman

U.S. Marshals

On Friday, May 1, 1885, Deputy U. S. Marshal James H. Guy had arrest warrants for the Lee brothers, Tom “Pink” and Jim for cattle theft and a warrant for Della Humby for murdering his wife. Humby was believed to be hiding out with the Lee’s at their ranch, near Dresden (now Gene Autry) a small town northeast of Ardmore. Marshal Guy deputized a posse of about 15 men, including William “Bill” Kirksey and brothers Andrew and Jim Roff. The posse approached the Lee ranch soon after dawn that Friday morning. The ranch house was occupied by “Pink” and Jim Lee, their brother-in-law, Ed Stein and Della Humby. As the posse approached the front of the house the occupants opened fire on them. Deputy Marshal Guy and his possemen, Andrew Roff, Jim Roff and William Kirksey were all shot and killed. The rest of the posse retreated and the men in the house escaped. The Lee brothers were killed in a shootout with lawmen September 7th. The other men were later arrested and acquitted at their trials.

Henry Klaber, Assistant Chief

Okmulgee Police Department

On Sunday, November 15, 1908, Jimmy Grayson had filed a complaint against a black gunsmith named Newt Decker over an argument about a day’s catch of fish. Chief Klaber and Grayson went to Decker’s house at Second and Creek Street. As the men approached the house, Decker, an expert shot, ran out shooting with guns in both hands. The Chief was shot in the throat and died soon after. Two brothers, Ralph and Felix Chapman, ran to Chief Klaber’s aid, firing at Decker with the fallen officer’s gun. Decker shot and killed both brothers then ran back in his house. Other officers responded and the gunfight lasted over an hour with over 500 shots being fired. Okmulgee County Deputy Sheriff Edgar Robinson was also killed with two other officers wounded as well as three bystanders. The officers finally set the house next to Decker’s on fire. The fire spread to Decker’s house. As Decker came to the door he was shot and fell back inside the house to burn to death. Chief Klaber, 39, was survived by his wife and four children.

Bolivar Thornton "Doc" Knight, Deputy Sheriff

Seminole County Sheriff's Office

About 4 A.M. the morning of Saturday, July 27, 1912, a group of five Seminole County deputies were concealed in the woods on the Little River near Sasakwa attempting to catch bootleggers. They had a rope stretched across the road to halt traffic when two black men in a buggy came down the road. When the horses hit the rope, they stopped abruptly, throwing the two men out of the buggy. A gunfight ensued and Deputy Knight was killed by a shotgun blast. The suspects, Sancho Barkus and Martin Davis, escaped but were later located. Barkus died of wounds received in a shootout with Deputy D. A. Marlow when he attempted to arrest him. Davis was arrested in St. Louis, Missouri, returned to Seminole and convicted of Deputy Knight’s death. Deputy Knight was survived by his wife and two children.

James Knight, Constable

Cherokee Nation, I.T

Cherokee Junction was a small settlement a short distance from Fort Smith across the border in Indian Territory. The night of Saturday, October 5, 1901, Constable Knight saw a man, apparently drunk, staggering down the railroad tracks, “whooping and shooting”. Constable Knight went up on the tracks and called to the man to surrender himself. The man fired at the Constable, striking him in the left breast below the heart. The man fled and was never identified. Constable Knight died a few hours later.

Joseph M. Kroskey, Special Officer

Santa Fe Railroad

About 11 P.M. on Thursday, February 22, 1912, three Guthrie Police Officers and Officer Kroskey met the train coming in from Perry looking for two negro men who had committed an armed robbery there earlier in the evening. The officers saw the two men get off the train. When the officer called for them to stop the men ran. One of them, Denise Alexander, was apprehended by the other officers. Officer Kroskey fired two shots at his fleeing suspect and the suspect fired two shots back. One of the suspect’s bullets fatally wounded Kroeskey when it pierced his aorta. The suspect was tracked and indications were that he got on a south bound train to Oklahoma City. Alexander had named his accomplice as Jim Pearson. Guthrie officers notified Oklahoma City Police and Pearson was arrested by Chief of Police Bill Tilghman the next day. The forty-year old Kroskey was single.

Mark Kuykendall, Deputy U.S. Marshal/Posseman

U.S. Marshals

On Monday, January 17, 1887, Deputy U S Marshal John Philips and his posse consisting of William Kelly, Mark Kuykendall and Henry Smith were in route back to the Federal Court at Fort Smith, Arkansas with a prisoner, Seaborn Kalijah aka Greene, charged with selling whiskey in the Indian Territory. The group made camp that evening 20 miles northwest of Eufaula (near present Stidham). Deputy Phillips went into Eufaula on business leaving the prisoner with his possemen. When Deputy Phillips returned the next day he found all three possemen dead and the prisoner gone. Smith and Kuykendall had been killed with an axe while they slept, then their bodies had been dragged into the campfire and burned from the waist down. Kelly was a dozen yards away, shot in the back and his head almost severed with an axe. After burying his three possemen, Deputy Phillips tracked down and re-arrested Kalijah. Kalijah was convicted of the three murders and hanged at Fort Smith on October 7, 1887.