Police Officer Earl J. Kobinski

Earl J. Kobinski

Officer Kobinski was shot and killed while he and his partner attempted to stop four young bank robbery suspects at Hubbell and Eaton avenues. The men were fleeing a robbery they had just committed at the People's State Bank in the City of Plymouth. The men opened fire when they encountered the officers and Officer Kobinski was shot in the head. One of the suspects, a 15-year-old youth, was killed in the return gunfire.

The other three, ages 16, 18, and 22, were apprehended, convicted of first degree murder, and sentenced to life. All three were released in 1948 when a judge ruled they should have been convicted of second degree murder. A year later the youngest of the three was shot and critically wounded by a 15-year-old store clerk when he attempted to rob a drug store in Detroit.

Officer Kobinski had served with the Detroit Police Department for 4 years.