LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — Fifty-six years after his death while in the line of duty, the Susquehanna Regional Police Department continues to remember Chief Martin Foltz.
On April 7, 1967, Foltz, 44, was shot and killed during a bank robbery in Maytown. He had gone into the bank and ordered the robbers to put their hands up when he was shot.
Though wounded, Foltz staggered to the bank steps and emptied his gun at the fleeing robbers, according to the SRPD.
Three men were arrested and charged with his murder. Two were slightly wounded by Chief Foltz's return fire.
The suspect, 21, who shot Foltz alongside another suspect, 36, were both convicted of his murder and sentenced to life in prison. One was sentenced on June 23, 1967 and the other was sentenced on Oct. 2, 1967.
The remaining suspect, 41, was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to the Fairview Mental Hospital for the criminally insane.
The 36-year-old suspect died in prison in March of 1984. The youngest suspect escaped in 1973 and was recaptured in 1976.
Foltz was the only full-time employee of the three-man department and the first chief. He is survived by his wife and daughter, who had rushed to the scene from their nearby home.
