Today in History: Lester Joseph Gillis killed in a gunbattle with FBI agents

Today is Thursday, Nov. 27, the 331st day of 2025. There are 34 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Nov. 27, 1934, bank robber and “Public Enemy No. 1” Lester Joseph Gillis, better known as George “Baby Face” Nelson, was killed in a gunbattle with FBI agents in Barrington, Illinois.

Also on this date:

In 1895, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel signed his will and testament establishing the Nobel Prizes, bequeathing most of his fortune for annual prizes honoring outstanding achievements in peace, physics, chemistry, literature, and physiology or medicine. (The prize in economic sciences was added in the 1960s).

In 1924, Macy’s first Thanksgiving Day parade — billed as a “Christmas Parade” — took place in New York.

In 1970, Pope Paul VI, visiting the Philippines, was slightly wounded at the Manila airport by a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest.

In 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and city supervisor and gay rights activist Harvey Milk were fatally shot inside City Hall by former Supervisor Dan White.

In 2003, President George W. Bush flew to Iraq under extraordinary secrecy and security to spend Thanksgiving Day with U.S. troops and thank them for “defending the American people from danger.”

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In 2015, a gunman attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing three people and injuring nine. (The prosecution of suspect Robert Lewis Dear stalled in the courts after he was repeatedly found mentally incompetent to stand trial.)

Today’s Birthdays: Fashion designer Manolo Blahnik is 83. Film director Kathryn Bigelow is 74. Science educator and TV host Bill Nye (aka the Science Guy) is 70. Author and diplomat Caroline Kennedy is 68. Actor Robin Givens is 61. Actor Michael Vartan is 57. Baseball Hall of Famer Iván Rodríguez is 54. Actor Kirk Acevedo is 54. Rapper Twista is 52. Actor Jaleel White is 49. Actor Lashana Lynch is 38.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/27/today-in-history-lester-joseph-gillis-killed-in-a-gunbattle-with-fbi-agents/