Captain Alex Lachman was shot and killed by a suspect he had just arrested for auto theft.

On June 26, 1931, Officer Fleener spotted a wanted car thief at a Joplin Miner's baseball game at Childress Ballpark. He found Captain Lachman at the game and together they went to arrest the suspect. The suspect fled on foot but was apprehended. Captain Lachman and Officer Fleener placed the twenty-six year old suspect in the car and were transporting the suspect to jail and were at Fourth & Gray Streets with Captain Lachman riding in the backseat with the prisoner when the prisoner produced a gun and shot Captain Lachman in the left left side. The prisoner jumped from the car and was shot by other officers as he attempted to flee. The suspect, a former member of the Miner's baseball team, died at the hospital at 10:25 am the following day.

Captain Lachman joined the Joplin Police Department in 1927 and was survived by his wife, Edna. Interred: Mount Hope Cemetery.