Harry J. Keating
Agency: Kansas City Police Department, MO
Officer Keating was born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States in 1904. He was survived by his wife of two years, Josephine.
On March 18, 1917, Officer Harry J. Keating was waiting out of uniform at the corner of 9th and Main Street for the streetcar when he saw a man he wanted to arrest. Witnesses reported that he had the man on his knees at gunpoint, when William B. Leahy, a private contracting Pinkerton Officer, saw him and thought Officer Keating was holding up the man. Leahy drew his gun and advanced, demanding that Officer Keating drop his weapon. Officer Keating turned to face Leahy, and Leahy, believing that he would be shot, fired on Officer Keating wounding him in the head. Leahy was out of uniform at the time, and the two men did not know that each of them were Officers. Officer Keating was pronounced dead at General Hospital. The prisoner escaped.
Pinkerton Officer William Leahy was arrested and charged with second degree murder. Leahy was discharged after a preliminary trial showed Officer Keating and Leahy's mutual misidentification of the other as suspects precipitated the shooting.
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