Bonnie and Clyde: Love, Crime, Murder and Ambush

Who Were Bonnie and Clyde?

During the hardscrabble days of the Great Depression, gangsters like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd captured the public’s attention with their brazen violence and matinee-idol good looks, until a shootout with police in 1933 Joplin Missouri elevated Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow to near superstar status, due to their youthful good looks and lengthy track record of murder, armed robbery and outright contempt for the law.

Evasive Outlaws

Together with Clyde’s brother Buck and Buck’s wife Blanche, along with a handful of off-again, on-again Barrow Gang members, the gang of outlaws evaded capture by stealing fast cars and traveling about the American South and Midwest, playing a game of cat and mouse that stymied the efforts of law enforcement as the criminal’s moved rapidly between jurisdictions.

Responsible for the deaths of nine law enforcement officers and four civilians over the course of their criminal careers, Bonnie and Clyde’s luck began to change in the summer of 1933, and after their narrow escape from a number of shootouts spanning multiple state lines, while held up in an abandoned amusement park at Dexfield Park Iowa, the Barrow Gang engaged in a gunfight with a posse made up of civilians and police, leading to the capture of Blanche, 16-year-old W.D. Jones and Buck, who passed away from his injuries five days later.

Bonnie and Clyde were also shot—Bonnie in the abdomen and Clyde in an arm—but yet again the couple managed a nail-biting escape.

How did Bonnie and Clyde Die?

The end would come in 1934, after Clyde sought revenge for his mistreatment at Eastham Prison some four years earlier, leading to the death of one prison guard, while seriously injuring another. Public outcry was to follow, leading prison superintendent Lee Simmons to appoint former Texas Ranger Frank Hamer to pursue Bonnie and Clyde without concern for the limits of jurisdiction or geography. Responding to a tip, Hamer and five others waited two full days on a lonely road near Gibsland Louisiana, until the morning of May 23rd, when the couple was lured into an ambush that ended their lives with lethal vengeance.

How Many Times Were Bonnie and Clyde Shot?

After the shooting was over, investigators counted 167 bullet holes in the couple’s stolen car, while coroners counted 53 bullet wounds to Bonnie and 51 to Clyde, making the short lives of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow a Hollywood favorite over the years to come.