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Detective

Alton Fritcher

Flint Police Department — Flint, MI

Veteran → Felonious

End of Watch January 5, 1969

Age 42

Tour of Duty 18 yrs

Badge 7

The Vigil Panel 104 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Military Department 12

Incident

Detective Alton Fritcher was shot and killed while responding to an armed robbery. He and another officer were visiting a business on Davison Road when a customer of a nearby cocktail lounge ran in and told them the place was being robbed. Detective Fritcher went to the front door, and his partner went to the back door of the lounge. When the two officers entered the lounge, the suspects, two men and a woman, opened fire, striking Detective Fritcher in the back and wounding his partner in the hand. Detective Fritcher was transported to Hurley Hospital, where he died the following day. All three suspects were captured a short time later. Before one of the male suspects, a Southern Michigan Prison escapee, 32, was captured, he ran to a nearby house and tried to break in. He shot and killed the owner of the house in front of his wife and three children. He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on September 12, 1969. He died in prison on November 20, 2020. The female suspect, 28, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison on September 11, 1969. She died in prison on October 16, 2001. The other male suspect, 30, was also sentenced to life. Detective Fritcher was a United States Army World War II veteran and had served with the Flint Police Department for 18 years.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife, three sons, and two stepdaughters.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MI-66487393
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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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.
Detective Fritcher gave the Flint Police Department 18 years.
Thank you for your service to the Flint 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 Flint Police Department

Type Other

Location Flint, Genesee County, MI

Platform Identity fpd.genesee.mi.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch January 5, 1969

Tour of Duty 18 yrs

Age 42

Badge Number 7

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Rifle

Military Service

Alton Fritcher served in the the United States military before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

Detective Alton Fritcher is one of 1 officers killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 0% of all 97,772 officers honored here.

In MI, 426 of 719 officers were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 59.2% of this state's fallen. That is 59.2 percentage points above the national rate of 0%.

At Flint Police Department, 4 of 13 officers on record were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 30.8% of this agency's fallen.

Flint Police Department

of 13 officers

30.8% Felonious

MI — Statewide

426

of 719 officers

59.2% Felonious

Nationwide

of 97,772 officers

0% Felonious