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Detective

Anthony J. McGinley

New York City Police Department — New York, NY

Felonious

End of Watch December 27, 1944

Age 35

Badge 1805

The Vigil Panel 81 ›

Gender Male

Incident Media Service The Sacrifice Memorials 1 Department 1,221

Incident

Anthony J. McGinley was born on 8 October 1909. He married Helen on 22 February 1936 and joined the New York City Police Department on 26 March 1938, serving first in the 14th Precinct in Manhattan. On 5 September 1941 he was promoted to detective third grade and assigned to the 5th Detective District, carrying shield 1805. His brother Edward was also a detective, of the first grade.

At about five to ten on the night of 23 December 1944, he and other officers answered a call to 29 Hancock Place in Morningside Heights, where a man named Louis Austen had assaulted his wife. When they broke down the apartment door they were met by a shotgun blast, and Detective McGinley was hit in the side and the stomach. Badly wounded, he fired six shots at the gunman, who was killed by the patrolmen with him.

He was taken to Sydenham Hospital, where colleagues gave their blood and surgeons removed three slugs, and where the Police Commissioner promoted him to detective second grade. He died four days after he was shot, on 27 December 1944. He was 35. He left his wife and their children, William, six, and Marianne, four; the family lived on Nelson Avenue in the Bronx.

More than a thousand police attended his Inspector's funeral, and he was buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Valhalla. His family received his Medal of Honor in April 1945, and in 2017 a granite plaque in his memory was dedicated at the 26th Precinct.

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Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: October 17, 2026

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Detective McGinley served with the New York City Police Department.
Thank you for your service to the New York community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Detective McGinley.

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

Agency

Department New York City Police Department

Type Police Department

Location New York, NY

Platform Identity nypd.newyork.ny.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch December 27, 1944

Age 35

Badge Number 1805

Gender Male

Assignment 5th Detective District, 18th Division

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Shotgun

The Sacrifice · Felonious

Anthony is one of 15,743 officers killed feloniously in the United States, 57.1% of the 27,551 remembered there.

33,917 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

Compare against

Time

In 1944, 59 officers in the United States were killed feloniously, the 129th heaviest of 213 years on record. The heaviest was 1921, with 248.

Every year on record · United States

Who

Anthony was 35. Of the 14,220 killed feloniously in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 31 and 47; the middle age was 38.

Age at death

Where he stood among them

Age by years of service

III

When

December holds 9.4% of these deaths in the United States, more than any other month. Wednesdays: 12.9%.

By month

By day of the week

How

Felonious deaths account for 57.1% of all 27,551 deaths in the United States, the most common cause. The weapon recorded was shotgun, in 7% of these deaths.

Every cause

Weapons recorded