James O'Neill

Cincinnati Police Department — Cincinnati, OH

Felonious

End of Watch April 20, 1915

Age 49

Tour of Duty 21 yrs 3 mo

The Vigil Panel 29 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 105

Incident

Patrolman James O'Neill was shot and killed while attempting to arrest four men underneath the Southern Bridge. On April 18, 1915, at 2 a.m., while searching one of four suspects in a streetcar robbery at Liston and Riverside Avenues, another one of the suspects shot him in the chest. The four suspects fled, and Patrolman O'Neill fired three shots at them, but none took effect. Alone on his beat, Patrolman O’Neill walked a block and a half to a call box at Liston and Ingalls Avenues to call for a patrol wagon. When the wagon arrived, he climbed aboard, unassisted, and was taken to General Hospital. The physicians believed that the bullet penetrated his chest and lodged in his back muscles and that he might survive. The following night, police arrested several suspects, including a man who admitted that he was one of the people with the shooter but stated that he had tried to stop the shooting. He also gave the police the shooter's name and description. By April 19, 1915, Patrolman O’Neill was in critical condition, and x-rays showed that the bullet had ranged downward and into his liver. At 4:45 a.m. on April 20, 1915, Patrolman O’Neill passed away. Also, on April 20, 1915, a warrant was taken out against the suspected shooter. The investigation showed that he hired a boat to take him across the river to Kentucky after the shooting. He told the boatman that he had a problem with a policeman in Cincinnati. On May 18, 1915, one month after the murder, the suspected shooter was captured in Mahnomen, Minnesota. While under arrest, the suspect told a prisoner that he had shot and killed a policeman in Cincinnati and that there was a $500 reward for his capture. Patrolman Roscoe Lewis, who knew the suspect on sight, was sent to Minnesota to pick him up. During the ensuing trial, the suspect testified on his own behalf and offered no defense other than an unsupported alibi that he was working as a waiter when the offense occurred; the jury found the suspect not guilty due

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Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

21 years. You could have gone home.
Patrolman O'Neill gave the Cincinnati Police Department 21 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Cincinnati community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Patrolman O'Neill.

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

Agency

Department Cincinnati Police Department

Location Cincinnati, OH

Platform Identity cincpd.hamilton.oh.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch April 20, 1915

Tour of Duty 21 yrs 3 mo

Age 49

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Gun; Unknown type

Offender Acquitted

Patrolman James O'Neill 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 OH, 572 of 991 officers were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 57.7% of this state's fallen. That is 3.5 percentage points above the national rate of 54.2%.

At Cincinnati Police Department, 63 of 106 officers on record were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 59.4% of this agency's fallen.

Cincinnati Police Department

of 106 officers

59.4% Felonious

OH — Statewide

572

of 991 officers

57.7% Felonious

Nationwide

17,623

of 32,508 officers

54.2% Felonious