Wilbur McGee
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
November 6, 1955
VEGAS COP-KILLER ADMITS CRIME
Face Murder Charge
A full confession has been taken from Alden Drew Kelly Jr., 34, who shot and killed Las Vegas police officer Wilbur McGee Friday afternoon, and it is expected that first degree murder charges will be filed against the young killer suspect early next week, it was reported by police officers Saturday morning.
Not only has the killer confessed, but he led police officers to a spot east of the Eastwood tract and showed them where he had stashed the .22 caliber automatic with which he shot down the officer in the Union Pacific hotel at Second and Lewis St. The gun was recovered from beneath a pile of lumber and now is in the hands of the district attorney.
In his confession, Kelly said that he had the .22 caliber gun in his hand when McGee accosted him and that he intended to surrender. He said that the officer slapped the gun away and that it went off.
“I don’t know what happened after that.” Kelly told officers, “everything just went blank.”
Dr. G.L. Shannon, psychiatrist from Patton State Hospital in California, was schedule to arrive here Saturday afternoon to put Kelly to a psychiatric test to determine his sanity.
Local officers, however, said that Kelly apparently knew what he was doing because he was able to trace his movement, step-by-step from the time he fled the hotel to the time he was captured in the desert at the rear of the Sahara hotel, about 8 o’clock Friday night.
Kelly was carrying McGee’s gun in his left front pocket and told authorities later that he had hidden the diminutive .22 automatic used to the killing under a pile of lumber near the southern city limits…
Earlier in the day, detectives had removed 2,400 nickels from Kelly’s room at the company house and identified the more than 50 pounds in coins as loot from the burglary of the North 5th Street ice cream parlor Thursday night…
When Kelly walked into the rooming house about 2:30 p.m. Mrs. Coffman stalled him outside the office while she phoned police… When McGee arrived, Kelley was not in the lobby and the officer walked upstairs while Mrs. Coffman went to Kelley’s room. Mrs. Coffman said she had just asked him what he was doing when McGee pushed her to the side and confronted the burglary suspect.
Mrs. Coffman said the officer immediately grabbed Kelley by the arms – as Kelley stood in the room’s doorway – and told her to run and call for additional help. Mrs. Coffman later said she did not notice Kelly holding a gun, but that she was looking at his face during their brief conversation.
While she made the call, Mrs. Coffman said gunshots rang out from the hallway and when she returned she found McGee lying face down near the doorway to Kelly’s room and dying from the two wounds.
Both the room and hallway were pierced with five or six bullet holes.
…McGee came to the department June 22, 1954, after working for about a year for City Maintenance Supt. Lewis P. Maynard. He was born in San Francisco and came here from Los Angeles. He lived here with his wife at 347 N. 15th St. McGee’s father is C.A. McGee of Victoria, B.C.
Plaque Location & Image
Center Wall Column 10 Row B View The Plaque