Memorial plaque for fallen Philadelphia Officer Charles Knox stolen

A memorial plaque dedicated to a Philadelphia police officer who was killed while responding to an armed robbery in 1992 was stolen, and police are searching for the thief, authorities said Wednesday.

The plaque at the corner of South Broad Street and Snyder Avenue honoring fallen Officer Charles Knox was pried from its spot on the sidewalk, police said. It was not clear exactly when the plaque was taken, and the motive for its removal is unknown, said department spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp.

An officer responding to an unrelated incident at a Walgreens in the vicinity of the plaque around 8 p.m. Tuesday noticed that it was missing, said Police Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore. The memorial may have been gone for a while, police said, because the area surrounding it did not appear to be freshly disturbed.

Vanore said the plaque was in place as recently as September, when it could be seen in body-camera footage from a police call in the area. Police are combing through surveillance footage from the last month or so in an effort to determine when the plaque was taken, he said.

Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel decried the theft of the memorial and vowed to vigorously investigate the crime. He called on the public for help in apprehending the thief. “We are taking this matter very seriously,” he said.

The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, the city’s police union, is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. In a statement, FOP president Roosevelt Poplar said the theft saddened and angered the city’s police officers.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Knox family on this sad day,” he said. “Knox served our great city with integrity and professionalism and is sorely missed by his friends and colleagues in the Philadelphia police department.”

Knox, 31, was shot and killed on the night of Aug. 30, 1992, while responding to an armed robbery at a Roy Rogers restaurant at South Broad Street and Snyder Avenue. As Knox and his partner, Anthony Howard, arrived at the scene, two men were trying to steal from the safe, and one of them was holding a gun to the head of the store manager.

Knox ordered him to drop the weapon, and the gunman lunged at him and they got into a physical struggle, police said. The second gunman then approached Knox from behind and shoved a handgun beneath Knox’s bulletproof vest and fired into his back at point-blank range.

Knox fell, and the gunman fired again, police said, and shot him in the face, killing him.

Howard was also shot, but survived.

Two brothers, Allen and Tucker Ginn, were later arrested and convicted of killing Knox and sentenced to life in prison.

Knox, the married father of a son who bore his name, was a fiercely brave officer, said Vanore, who worked with him and remembers the day he was killed. No one, he said, was surprised to learn that Knox had interrupted the robbery and confronted the gunmen.

“He was a great guy,” Vanore said Wednesday. “An aggressive officer, didn’t back down from anything. It didn’t surprise me that he took this guy head-on.”

As police continue to investigate the theft of the plaque that honored Knox, Vanore said he and others in the department view the crime as an affront.

“He deserves to be honored and remembered,” said Vanore.

The Ginn brothers later appealed their murder convictions and insisted they had no involvement in the crime.

Allen Ginn said one of the detectives on the case threatened him during an interrogation that lasted more than 20 hours and coerced him to sign a false confession. And years later, the brothers learned that another man had been detained with rolled coins taken from the restaurant during the robbery, but was never arrested.

A federal judge later denied the brothers’ appeals and ruled that the case against them was built on overwhelming evidence. Allen Ginn died of cancer while in prison in 2020 at the age of 59. His brother’s appeals for a reversal of his conviction have been repeatedly denied.

Anyone with information on the stolen plaque is asked to call the department’s tip line at 215-686-8477. Tips can be submitted anonymously.