Homer V. Van Meter

Born: Dec. 3, 1906 - Fort Wayne Indiana
Died: Aug. 23, 1934 - St. Paul, Minnesota  Death Certificate
Buried: Lindenwood Cemetery - Fort Wayne, Indiana
Father: Cary B. Van Meter
Mother: Julia Miller


Siblings

  1. Harry

  2. Helen

 

Homer Van Meter was the notorious gunman and right hand man for John Dillinger.  He was a former waiter, sent to prison (state reformatory, Pendleton, Indiana) in 1925 for taking several hundred dollars from passengers on a train (10 to 20 year sentence) were he met John Dillinger.   Both were eventually sent to Indiana State Prison, Michigan City, Indiana.  Homer was paroled May 19, 1933 right before Dillinger (May 22, 1933), after which the two formed a gang and went on a one year crime spree of robbing banks and having shootouts with law enforcement officers.  Homer killing 2 East Chicago detectives and a South Bend police officer.  Wanted Poster
Dillinger evidently depended on Homer for advice and liked to hide in St. Paul, Minnesota because of Van Meter's knowledge of the city and contacts on the police department.  
Homer was killed on August 23, 1934 almost a month after Dillinger was killed, a block within the St. Paul Capitol building.  Without friends since Dillinger's death, local mobsters determined he wasn't a threat, and tipped their contacts on the St. Paul police department as to his whereabouts.  The police caught up with him at a Ford dealership as he was looking for a new car, and chased him into a blind alley near University Ave. and Marion St.  With no where to go but not interested in giving himself up, Van Meter drew his .45 and was met by a hail of machine gun fire from officer's guns.  Final Scene

 

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