Sergeant Jeffry Kowalski, 51, died at his Harlingen, Texas home on October 1, 2008, from pancreatic cancer that medical reviewers linked to internal injuries sustained in a 1987 shooting while he was a St. Louis police officer. The St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners ruled his death a line-of-duty death, finding the cancer developed in organs damaged by the bullet.

The original incident occurred February 19, 1987, when Kowalski, then 29, and his partner chased armed robbery suspects in the 5000 block of Vernon Avenue. A juvenile suspect turned and shot Kowalski in the abdomen, severing his inferior vena cava and injuring his liver, stomach, and pancreas. Kowalski returned fire; the juvenile shooter and two others were taken into custody. He survived emergency surgery, spent two months hospitalized, returned to duty in September 1988, and later was promoted to sergeant.

Kowalski, a U.S. Army veteran, lived with long-term health problems from the internal damage and was survived by his wife and daughter. Does anyone have further information about Kowalski’s service or the 1987 case?