BALTIMORE, Md. – September 11 is remembered nationally for the terrorist attacks that killed 2,977 people in 2001, but for the Baltimore Police Department, the date also marks a local loss that occurred nearly four decades earlier.
Officer Walter Patrick Matthys was shot and killed in the line of duty on Sept. 11, 1964, just three months after joining the department. Baltimore Police remembered Matthys on Thursday, 62 years after his death.
Baltimore Officer Killed Responding to Disturbance
Matthys was dispatched to a disturbance at Edythe Street and Central Avenue when he encountered the man who would ultimately kill him, according to the department’s account.
Police said Matthys attempted to speak with one of the people involved when the man assaulted him and gained control of the officer’s service revolver.
The attacker shot Matthys once and continued firing after the officer fell to the ground, according to Baltimore Police.
The suspect was subsequently apprehended and charged with murder.
Matthys was a U.S. Army veteran who had been a Baltimore police officer for only three months. He was assigned to the department’s Eastern District when he was killed.
Sept. 11 Carries Two Memories for Baltimore Police
The anniversary of Matthys’ death now falls on a date forever associated with another enormous loss of life among police officers, firefighters and other first responders.
For Baltimore Police, that gives Sept. 11 an additional local significance. Before the attacks of 2001 became part of the nation’s history, the date was already written into the department’s own history through the death of Matthys.
More than six decades later, the department continues to recognize the young officer and Army veteran who died only months into his police career.
“We will never forget,” Baltimore Police said in its remembrance.