Leslie Coffelt | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Leslie William Coffelt August 15, 1910 Oranda, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | November 1, 1950 (aged 40) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wound |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D.C., U.S. 38°52′48″N 77°04′12″W / 38.880°N 77.070°W |
| Spouse |
Cressie Morgan (m. 1937) |
| Relatives | Cora Jane Wilson (stepdaughter) |
| Police career | |
| Country | United States |
| Department | D.C. Metropolitan Police Department White House Police Force |
| Service years | 1929–1936, 1941–1950 |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service/ |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1943–1945 |
| Unit | B Company, 300th Infantry Regiment |
| Rank | Officer |
Leslie William Coffelt (August 15, 1910 – November 1, 1950) was an officer of the White House Police, a branch of the Secret Service, who was killed while successfully defending U.S. President Harry S. Truman against an attempted assassination on November 1, 1950, at Blair House, where the president was living during renovations at the White House.
Coffelt was wounded during the assassination attempt, which two Puerto Rican nationalists carried out. Though mortally wounded by three bullets, Coffelt returned fire moments later and killed one of the attackers with a single shot to the head. The other was convicted by a federal jury and sentenced to death; Truman commuted the sentence to life imprisonment and Jimmy Carter released the man from jail in 1979.
Acknowledging the importance of the question of Puerto Rico's status, Truman authorized a referendum in Puerto Rico in 1952 to determine its relationship to the U.S.[1]
- ^ Hunter, Stephen; Bainbridge Jr., John (2005). American Gunfight: The Plot To Kill Harry Truman – And The Shoot-Out That Stopped It. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 4, 251. ISBN 978-0-7432-6068-8.