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Deputy Superintendent

Louis Joseph Sirgo

New Orleans Police Department — New Orleans, LA

Veteran → Felonious

End of Watch January 7, 1973

Age 48

Tour of Duty 21 yrs

The Vigil Panel 244 · Column 1 · Line 7 ›

Gender Male

Incident Media Service The Sacrifice Military Memorials 1 Also Remembered Department 127

Incident

Deputy Superintendent Louis Sirgo, Patrolman Philip Coleman, and Patrolman Paul Persigo were shot and killed by a sniper who had shot several civilians and set fire to a local hotel. Superintendent Sirgo was shot as he led a team of officers up a dark stairwell to try to rescue two other officers who were trapped in an elevator. The suspect was hiding in the stairwell and opened fire on the officers. The suspect, who was a member of the Black Panthers, was shot and killed by police, who used a Marine Helicopter to fly over the hotel and fire at the suspect. The suspect was also responsible for the murders of Cadet Alfred Harrell and Sergeant Edwin Hosli, who were shot in separate incidents eight days earlier. Officer Harrell was killed instantly, and Sergeant Hosli succumbed to his wounds on March 5, 1973. Superindentent Sirgo was a United States Army WWII Army veteran and served with the New Orleans Police Department for 21 years. He was survived by his wife and daughter. He is buried at Greenwood Cemetery, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. The Black Panther Party was a black nationalist and Marxist revolutionary political and militant organization active in the United States between 1966 and 1982. Members and former members of the group were responsible for the murders of over 20 law enforcement officers and the wounding of dozens more across the nation. Please click here to visit all the law enforcement officers who have died as a result of the Black Panther Party's violent activism.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife and daughter.

In Our Keeping

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Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Also honored at salute.nw — U.S. Army, salute.nw. One record, 3 gates. Louis is one person.

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Tributes

I served 1985 to 1993. You served too, before the badge - different uniform, same idea. You go where you are sent and you do not get to pick the call.
Deputy Superintendent Sirgo gave the New Orleans Police Department 21 years.
Thank you for your service to the New Orleans community, and for your service before it. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, brother.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department New Orleans Police Department

Type Police Department

Location New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA

Platform Identity nopd.orleans.la.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch January 7, 1973

Tour of Duty 21 yrs

Age 48

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Rifle

Military Service

Louis Joseph Sirgo served in the U.S. Army (1943â1946) before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

The Sacrifice · Felonious

Louis is one of 15,743 officers killed feloniously in the United States, 57.1% of the 27,552 remembered there.

34,103 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

Compare against

Time

In 1973, 171 officers in the United States were killed feloniously, the 17th heaviest of 213 years on record. The heaviest was 1921, with 248.

Every year on record · United States

Who

Louis was 48. Of the 14,219 killed feloniously in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 31 and 47; the middle age was 38. Louis had served 21 years; the middle length of service was 6 years.

Age at death

Where he stood among them

Age by years of service

III

When

January holds 8% of these deaths in the United States; December holds the most, 9.4%. Sundays: 15.2%.

By month

By day of the week

How

Felonious deaths account for 57.1% of all 27,552 deaths in the United States, the most common cause. The weapon recorded was rifle, in 5.9% of these deaths.

Every cause

Weapons recorded