Det. Sgt. Gene Tilford Nash
(Oct. 14, 1926 -- Oct. 20, 1958)

In October 1958, the LAPD received a tip that suspects in a ring responsible for an estimated 60 robberies were gathered in an apartment at 2723 S. Budlong Ave., in the West Adams neighborhood, about five blocks south of the Interstate 10 Freeway in Los Angeles, and about a mile northwest of the University of Southern California campus.

Four robbery squad officers arrived at the apartment building on the evening of Monday, Oct. 20, 1958. The officers had a warrant for a 32-year-old robbery suspect and parole violator with a lengthy criminal history. They were also looking for his 29-year-old partner in crime. The men had been suspected of robbing card and dice games in the area, and were also suspected of robbing theaters, markets, businesses and individuals.

While Sgt. Shirel O. "Sam" Eastenson, 38, and Officer Charles E. Leonard, 34, waited on the sidewalk outside the apartment building, Sgt. Walter F. Bitterolf, 43, and Det. Sgt. Gene T. Nash, who had turned 32 less than a week before, entered the apartment building.

The officers were met at the door by two men and two women. One of the women told the officers that the only other person in the apartment was her 6-year-old son, who was sleeping in a back bedroom.

When Nash entered the back bedroom to investigate, he was immediately hit with a volley of bullets fired by a man who was hiding on the floor next to the child's bed. Nash was hit three times in his chest, once in his right arm and once in his left hand. He fell next to the bed of the sleeping child, but was able to draw his revolver and return fire at the man on the other side of the bed. The man was hit and fell to the floor, then scrambled to escape through the bedroom window.

A second man was hiding in a closet in the bedroom. When he opened the closet door, Nash turned and hit him with a shot to the back. Nash's bullet lodged in his chest.

Hearing the gunshots, Bitterolf ran to the back bedroom, and pulled the second man from the closet.

"I told Nash an ambulance was on the way," Bitterolf recalled. "He said, 'I don't think it will do any good. I don't think I'll make it.'"

Bitterolf went to the bedroom window and found a revolver and a shoe that had been left behind by the shooter. The handle of the gun has been nicked by one of Nash's bullets.

Eastenson and Leanard heard the gunfire, then saw the man climbing out of the bedroom window. They chased him, following a trail of blood. They found him about a block away, hiding on the floor of a car. He had fresh bullet wounds on his thigh and hand.

When responding police officers arrived, they initially thought that the 6-year-old had been injured in the gun battle, since there were several drops of blood on his bed. But the child was uninjured, and had apparently slept soundly through the gun battle over his head.

Nash was taken to Central Receiving Hospital, at 6th Street and Loma Drive, where he died. Before he died, Nash positively identified the man who shot him.

The two injured suspects were taken to the prison ward at Los Angeles General Hospital.

In addition to the four initial occupants of the apartment, and the two men hiding in the back bedroom, two other suspects were later arrested. The charges included suspicion of murder and suspicion of robbery.

Gene Tilford Nash was born Oct. 14, 1926, Vernon, Texas, in the northern part of the state, a few miles from the Oklahoma border. He was the only child of Jefferson Josephus "Joseph" Nash, a farmer, and Elsie Ann Sandherr Nash.

Shortly after Nash was born, the family moved to Los Angeles, where Joseph Nash operated a small restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard and Elsie Nash worked as a stenographer for a railroad company. The family later moved to Whittier, California, and Joseph worked as a cook at the CoCo Tree Cafe at the northwest corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.

Nash served in the Korean War, enlisting in the U.S. Army on Jan. 2, 1945, and serving at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California. After his discharge from the Army, Nash joined the LAPD in about 1948. He was appointed sergeant in January 1958, and joined the LAPD robbery squad in August 1958.

On May 2, 1954, Nash married Cynthia Anne Davis in Pasadena, California. Their daughter, Patricia Ann, was born on Oct. 15, 1956.

On Oct. 23, 1959, the gunman who shot Nash was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to five years to life. The suspect in the closet was acquitted of murder but was convicted of robbery. Because of the conviction and several other previous robbery convictions, he was adjudged to be an habitual criminal and was sentenced to life.

Hundreds of police officers, from the LAPD, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, the California Highway Patrol and police departments throughout Southern California attended Nash's funeral and his burial at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier.

On Nov. 27, 1958, Cynthia Nash accepted the LAPD Medal of Valor on behalf of her husband. A year later, Nash was posthumously awarded the LAPD's Purple Heart.

Det. Sgt. Nash's memorial sign is located on the northeast corner of Budlong Avenue and West 27th Street.

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