Officer Bolin, assigned to the Fourth District, was found dead in his dining room of his home at 614 O'Fallon Street. Officer Bolin went off duty at 11:00 am went to cash his check and returned home at 1:30 pm and turned the money over to his wife and sat down in the dining room to eat dinner. His wife heard a single shot and found him lying on the dining room floor with his revolver at his feet. The bullet discharged from the revolver struck Officer Bolin in the temple, passed through his head and lodged in a wall. The death investigation determined that officer Bolin's service revolver was defective and had discharged accidentally on two separate occasions and had done so on this third occasion, discharging when it fell from it's usual resting place on the fireplace mantle.

Officer Bolin was survived by his wife, Agnes, and children, John and Mary.