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Officer Down: Police Officer Mason Samborski

Age: 28

Cause of Death: Gunfire

Officer Mason Samborski was shot and killed while conducting an investigation following a traffic stop. He had a stopped a juvenile suspect and took him to a nearby apartment complex in connection with an investigation.

After arriving at the location a struggle ensued in which Officer Samborski was fatally shot. The suspect fled the scene with his service weapon but was apprehended the following day.

Officer Samborski had served with the agency for 4 years. He is survived by his wife and child.

Mich. teen arrested in officer's death

By David N. Goodman
Associated Press

OAK PARK, Mich. — A teenager was arrested Sunday in connection with the fatal shooting of a suburban Detroit police officer who had stopped him for driving without a license, police said.

The Detroit teenager surrendered to police a few hours after shooting Oak Park Officer Mason Samborski, police said.

Samborski, 28, stopped the 16-year-old driver of a Jeep Grand Cherokee during the early morning. The officer put the teen in his squad car and drove him to a nearby apartment complex, apparently seeking an adult to take custody of him or someone who could establish his identity, Chief John McNeilance said.

A struggle occurred at the apartment and Samborski was shot once, the chief said. He wouldn't say if the officer was shot with his own gun.

A neighbor called police. Emergency crews tried to revive the officer, but he died at Providence Hospital.

"It's the worst possible thing that can happen in a police department," McNeilance said. "Obviously, our officers are devastated."

The teen apparently fled in the Jeep but surrendered about 2:25 p.m. at a police station in nearby Detroit. He was being held there while police sought murder charges.

Police declined to identify the teen.

Samborski had been with the Oak Park police force for four years, said Department of Public Safety Lt. Mike Pinkerton. He was married with one child.

Oak Park is a city of about 29,000 on Detroit's northern border.