Frank Allen Grammer Jr., Father of Actor Kelsey Grammer, Shot Dead in Racially Motivated Ambush at Virgin Islands Home

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Summary: Frank Allen Grammer Jr., 38, was shot dead on April 24, 1968, in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands, after Arthur Bevan Niles, 29, a taxi driver, set fire to his car in the driveway to lure him out and shot him twice on the front lawn in a racially motivated attack. Niles faced murder and arson charges but was found not guilty by reason of insanity, reports say.

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CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands — Frank Allen Grammer Jr., a 38-year-old magazine publisher and father of future actor Kelsey Grammer, was killed on the night of April 24, 1968, after a taxi driver set fire to his car in the driveway of the family home in St. Thomas to draw him outside.

Grammer stepped out of his house to investigate the flames. The assailant, Arthur Bevan Niles, 29, then shot him twice on the front lawn, according to accounts pieced together from police reports and court records at the time.

Grammer’s wife, Elizabeth, told investigators she rushed to pull her husband’s body clear of the driveway because Niles remained at the scene and threatened to run over the body with his vehicle.

Police arrested Niles less than 10 hours later. Authorities charged him with first-degree murder in Grammer’s death. He also faced arson counts for the car fire that lured the victim outside, as well as separate fires set at a house and two rental cars parked at the airport.

The killing was identified in official records and early reporting as racially motivated. Niles, a local taxi driver, had previously drawn police attention for anti-white statements painted on his cab.

Grammer had moved from Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey, to St. Thomas in 1954 and built a life there as editor and owner of the Virgin Islands View magazine. At the time of the shooting, Kelsey Grammer was 13 years old.

Niles was later found not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the murder and arson charges. He was committed to psychiatric care instead of prison.

The case drew from multiple contemporary law-enforcement and court documents detailing the sequence of events, the suspect’s actions, and the testimony provided by Grammer’s wife.

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