On February 26, 1947 Vancouver Police officers Charles Boyes and Oliver Ledingham were murdered in a shootout at False Creek Flats.
This story is from Blood, Sweat, and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance
During the 1940s, many of Vancouver’s young men aged between 13 and 18 were recruited into “hoodlum gangs.” The youth were good at steering clear of police, members were rarely identified, and their crimes became increasingly serious. Police believed that an organized crime ring was recruiting these boys and using them to rob military depots and armouries and then use the stolen guns to rob banks around the Lower Mainland.
Bank Robbery:
On February 26, 1947 three teenagers planned to rob the Royal Bank at Renfrew and First. A 17-year-old boy named William (Fats) Robertson, was upset with his friends for leaving him out of the robbery and tipped off police. Just as the boys were putting on their stocking masks, police rolled up and got into a car chase. It ended with the boys bailing out of the car and trying to lose police in the railyards of False Creek flats.
A gun fight ensured in which officers Ledingham and Boyes were killed, and another officer Percy Hoare, was shot in the leg and shoulder. Badly injured, but still able to shoot, Hoare killed Doug Carter, an 18-year-old with a wife and baby, another hit Harry Medos in the leg.
Gloves Off:
The shootings put Chief Walter Mulligan in a difficult position. Just two days before he had told a Vancouver Sun reporter that the “gloves were off” in a war against city crime. And, as the same newspaper reported, in the next 48 hours Vancouver experienced seven burglaries, two hold ups, two attempted robberies and 19 thefts.
Harry Medos, 18, was executed, while 17-year-old William Henderson received five years for possession of a firearm.
Fats Robertson, who was not invited along on the robbery that day, went on to a spectacular life of crime and a career on the Vancouver Stock Exchange. He was a co-owner of the Wigwam Inn on Indian Arm in the early 1960s and turned it into an illegal gambling operation, printed counterfeit money, and ran a brothel. Eventually he was jailed for trying to bribe an RCMP officer.
Ledingham, 40, who was known in his Kitsilano neighbourhood for his crops of gladioli and tulips, left behind a wife and 13-year-old son. Boyes, 38, who was a wizard with tools and often fixed the toys of the kids in his Point Grey neighbourhood, left behind a wife and six-year-old daughter.
The full story of the Shootout at False Creek Flats is now a Blood, Sweat, and Fear podcast
© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.
9 comments on “The shootout at False Creek Flats”
My hubby is a current VPD member and I appreciate you sharing this story. Thankfully there have not been large numbers of slain officers in VPD. Of those that are deceased due to job, I know the Vancouver Police Benevolent Assn still take cookies and flowers to the mothers, wives and loved ones who lost their son, husband or dad. They do this in every year on the anniversary.
It’s really nice to know that these brave people will always be remembered.
A sombre trip down a tragic lane of Vancouver history. One hopes authorities found, convicted and locked away those post-war Fagins who tapped teens to steal firearms for future crimes.
My head snapped to attention seeing William “Fats” Robertson get a mention. He directly or indirectly remained a news maker involved in murky goings on even past his 1960s heyday outlined by Eve.
I remember hearing his name drip off lips of talk-show hosts in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. The late Gary Bannerman had a unique way of slowly pronouncing the three-name moniker as if it was a pejorative.
Sounds like Fats, in addition to being miffed, was perhaps honing his abilities to be a police informer. Snitch skills may have furthered his subsequent questionable activities.
Whatever became of Fats? Was he, indeed, portly or obese? Or did the nickname not jive with the physical appearance. After all, the legendary Little Richard Penniman is a towering 6-feet-plus in height as he frenetically sings and bashes the piano ivories.
Bill would never inform, that’s is the Gospel Truth. He played rough but was dealing with the dregs of society and while early in his life he was rough and tough and hard to bluff, he mellowed and was a great Dad and Husband to his family, also an Entrepreneur and a pioneer of the Water from Air Technology.
So true. Find this story a tad fake. I have heard another version to this story. Which i myself will believe. Yes people lost their lives that day. Yet only 1 was shot in the back and it was also a lady who phoned the cops.
Harry Medos was the first person i ever saw in a zoot suit, complete with pegged trousers, a chain and pork pie hat. It was in front of the Aristocrat at Fraser and Kingsway. He was known as a neigborhoodl troublemaker. He tossed a rope over the stovepipe chimney of the house next door in the 700 block E. 18th owned by the Nybergs. ( If I recall correctly, the Nyberg boy went on to become a chef at Hotel Vancouver.
While visiting my elderly aunt today, whose house overlooks the flats, the story of this shootout was told to me. She could not quite recall all the details but, thanks to your accounting of it, I will be able to fill in the blanks for her.
I am writing a short account of this event in my autobiography. I am Al Hoare’s son (No one called him Percy. Quelle horreur!) I wouldn’t mind a good map of the movements of police and crooks. I find your map most confusing. Your narrative mentionx Kitchener St. and I couldn’t even find it on your map. I don’t believe Mr. Hoare followed good arrest procedure but this problem does not seem to be discussed anywhere. I don’t think it was wise of him to shout “What’s this!” and reach for the young man’s gun. That was really putting the other two constables in danger.
Hi Robert, it’s not my map, as the caption reads it’s from the Vancouver Sun, February 28, 1947. To get a map of that period, I suggest you drop by Vancouver Archives. The Vancouver Police Museum may also have more information. Best of luck with your book.