On June 13, 1949, 46-year-old Alexander C. Haddock, a police officer with 14 years of service, responded to a burglary alarm at the El Segundo High School. When he arrived, he found a burglar with whom he became engaged in a gun battle. Haddock killed the suspect but sustained a bullet wound to his right leg. Doctors were not able to remove the bullet and Haddock died as a result of complications of his injury over one year later.