On May 12, 1929, Officers Ralph Hinds and Delbert E. Bates were answering a disturbance call at 1409 Brooklyn Avenue. As the officers stepped onto the porch of the house, Ferdinand Brockington appeared in the doorway. He was wearing a derby hat, smoking a cigar, and held a suitcase in his left hand, his right hand hidden behind his back. As the officers neared him, he brought out his right hand, which was holding an automatic pistol. He shot Officer Hinds once in each leg, and as he fell, he shot him in the back. He then shot Officer Bates in one leg, and fled through the back of the house. Officers, volunteers, and bloodhounds searched for Brockington, who had got away after shooting the officers. Later that day, Officer William J. Haines, whose regular beat was that area, spotted a man who matched Brockington's description (derby hat, cigar, and all) at the corner of 15th and Brooklyn Avenue. Officer Haines did not want to become involved in a gunfight with him, so he enlisted the help of a motorist, who drove him around the corner, so he could approach Brockington from the rear. When Haines seized him, Brockington denied the shootings, although he was still carrying the pistol. He was taken back to his house and was identified by his wife and eight children as the shooter. Brockington then said that he shot the officers because he thought they were burglars, but his family and neighbors all agreed that there was enough light that they had no difficulty in distinguishing the officers (who were in uniform.) The family then made a statement that Brockington had vowed to "mow down the law as fast as it comes" when he learned that one of his daughters had called the police in an attempt to prevent him from beating his wife. It was then learned that Brockington had been beating his wife on a regular basis for the last fifteen of their twenty-five years of marriage.

Officer Hinds died of his wounds May 17, 1929. He had been a member of the police department for four years.