Gordon McNeill, 61; FBI Agent Injured in Landmark Shootout
Gordon G. McNeill, 61, an FBI agent wounded in a bloody Miami shootout that led to changes in the arming of law enforcement officers, died of cancer Jan. 1 at his home in Haddonfield, N.J.
An April 11, 1986, confrontation between FBI agents and two bank robbers left two agents dead and five wounded, McNeill among them. The bank robbers also died in what is considered the bloodiest gunfight in FBI history.
The agents, equipped only with handguns, were seriously outgunned by the ex-military outlaws, who were armed with assault rifles. A total of 131 shots were fired, and only one of the 10 people involved -- an FBI agent -- escaped injury.
The shootout became the catalyst for providing personnel in the FBI and other law enforcement agencies with stronger weapons and bigger supplies of ammunition. McNeill, the most seriously wounded of those who survived, was shot in the head, neck and right hand.
Born in Philadelphia, McNeill graduated from St. Joseph’s University before joining the FBI. He served in field offices in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Miami, where he was an anti-drug and organized crime unit supervisor.
After his retirement in 1997, McNeill, who worked on the fatal Polly Klaas kidnapping, served as a consultant to law enforcement agencies in child kidnapping cases.
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