Homer Van Meter (1906-1934)

Homer was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Homer Van Meter was the notorious gunman and right hand man for John Dillinger. He was a former waiter, sent to prison in 1925 for taking several hundred dollars from passengers on a train were he met John Dillinger. Homer was paroled May 19, 1933 right after Dillinger, 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. 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.