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

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Trooper Kohler,
I have studied about the details of that day up to the moment you were murdered by researching old newspapers articles. The slime bag that murdered you of course is still alive and well, but still in prison! They say you were very intelligent with a bright future and a perfect trooper for F.H.P.. I just wanted to say it's a sad story about you only wanting to help a person that took your life without any remorse and to R.I.P. on this exact day forty years later from that awful evening in 1978. Your service with the U.S.A.F. and F.H.P. is very much appreciated to this day and always will be...

Deputy A.R. Hobbs
Jefferson County TN. Sheriffs Office

September 19, 2018