John Edgar Taylor

Thomasville Police Department — Thomasville, NC

Felonious

End of Watch April 16, 1921

Age 29

Tour of Duty 1 yrs

The Vigil Panel 40 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 7

Incident

Chief John Taylor was shot and killed by the town doctor the day after the doctor's barn burned down. The doctor had an ongoing dispute with Chief Taylor and believed that the chief was responsible for the fire. The doctor located the chief in front of the NorthState building on Salem Street and shot him twice with a shotgun. The suspect then followed Chief Taylor into the store and shot him four more times with a handgun. The suspect was sentenced to life in prison and was confined at the department for the criminally insane at the state prison in Raleigh. He escaped on August 29th, 1922. In 1924 the suspect was located and arrested in California. Because of a legal technicality, the state of California refused to honor an extradition request from North Carolina and instead ordered him to be set free. In 1928 he died as the result of a mining accident in Winthrop, California. Chief Taylor had served with the Thomasville Police Department for one year and had previously served with Winston-Salem Police Department.

Survivors

He was survived by his expectant wife.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-NC-4D7DEDF1
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

You barely got started.
Chief Taylor gave the Thomasville Police Department 1 year.
Thank you for your service to the Thomasville community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Chief Taylor.

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

Agency

Department Thomasville Police Department

Location Thomasville, NC

Platform Identity tpd.davidson.nc.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch April 16, 1921

Tour of Duty 1 yrs

Age 29

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Handgun

Offender Killed in 1928

Chief John Edgar Taylor is one of 17,623 officers killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 54.2% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In NC, 385 of 664 officers were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 58% of this state's fallen. That is 3.8 percentage points above the national rate of 54.2%.

At Thomasville Police Department, 5 of 8 officers on record were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 62.5% of this agency's fallen.

Thomasville Police Department

of 8 officers

62.5% Felonious

NC — Statewide

385

of 664 officers

58% Felonious

Nationwide

17,623

of 32,508 officers

54.2% Felonious