Sergeant
Lionel Stanley BAUM
YEAR OF DEATH
1975
JURISDICTION
Victoria
DETAILS OF DEATH
About 2 p.m. Sunday 1 June 1975 Sergeant Baum was preparing to set up a road block on the Princes Highway at Cann River when he accidentally killed himself with his own shotgun. The weapon had been on the front seat of his car and he had picked it up by the barrel was was pulling it towards him when it discharged severely wounding him in the stomach. He died within 15 minutes. The road block was being set up in response to a report that a wanted man was in the vicinity. It was later learned that the information had been part of a deliberate attempt to mislead police about the fugitive’s direction of travel thus allowing him a better chance to escape.
