Trooper Alvin Vincent Kohler, Florida Highway Patrol, Florida

Trooper Alvin Vincent Kohler

Florida Highway Patrol, Florida

End of Watch Tuesday, September 19, 1978

Alvin Vincent Kohler

Trooper Alvin Kohler was shot and killed in Miami when he stopped to help a disabled motorist.

Trooper Kohler requested a tow truck and started writing the 15-year-old driver a citation for failure to comply with a restriction on his license. When the tow truck arrived, the youth opened fire with a handgun killing the trooper and the tow truck driver. The suspect and a companion then fled in the tow truck. Minutes later they were captured by two Florida City police officers.

The shooter was convicted of two counts of murder and robbery and sentenced to three life terms in prison.

Trooper Kohler was a U.S. Air Force veteran and had served with the Florida Highway Patrol for 11 months.

Bio

Age 23
Tour 11 months
Badge Not available
Military Veteran

Incident Details

Cause Gunfire
Weapon Handgun; .357 caliber
Offender Sentenced to life

juvenile

Most Recent Reflection

View all 36 Reflections

Alvin and I were classmates at Edward H. White High School Class of 1973. We grew up as teenagers along with others in Jacksonville Florida. I joined the US Army in May of 1973 and would always find time to look Alvin up or visit his family whenever I came back to town on leave. In 1977 having returned from a 3 year tour in Germany I met with Alvin as he had just been Honorably Discharged from the US Air Force. We spoke of many memories, shared a few laughs and then he told me he was waiting for his application to the Florida Highway Patrol to be approved. He confided in me that he had reservations of how other High School classmates would react to his becoming a State Trooper. I told Alvin to follow his heart and do what was good for him and if others thought negative of his career choice do not let that bother him. We shook hands and I departed for my next assignment to Ft Carson Colorado, this where I heard of his tragic death in 1978. I still remember this last visit and conversation with Alvin as if it were today, and as I come into Jacksonville from time to time I remember him as I pass the exit to his family's home on Interstate 10. As I walk the hollowed grounds of his grave site in Jacksonville Memory Gardens Orange Park Florida and honor his courage and desire to serve.

Chief Warrant Officer 4 John B Moore
US Army Retired

May 22, 2018