Detective Howard F. Smith

Howard F. Smith

Detective Howard Smith succumbed to gunshot wounds received nine months earlier during a bank robbery while working a protection detail at the Mohawk Branch at 2026 Central Parkway in Cincinnati at 10:08 am.

Detective Smith was undercover as a teller when two armed men entered the bank and announced a hold-up. Detective Smith fired at one of the subjects but missed. One of the men shot him in the back and then twice in the head. The subjects fled without taking any money.

Detective Smith was transported to Cincinnati General Hospital where he remained in critical condition until succumbing to his wounds almost nine months later.

The suspects were apprehended and convicted for his murder. Both suspects were sentenced to death, but the sentences were commuted to life in prison, and they were both paroled in 2002.

Detective Smith was a United States Army World War II veteran and had served with the Cincinnati Police Department for almost 32 years. He was survived by his wife, son, and daughter.