On October 6, 1999, Sergeant Kimberling was shot and killed while attempting to investigate a theft.

Sergeant Kimberling was responding to a call regarding a suspected gasoline thief on I-29 in St. Joseph. Sergeant Kimberling stopped the suspect, Jason Friske, who answered the radioed description of a suspect in a gasoline drive off theft from a highway truck stop. As Sergeant Kimberling approached the passenger side of the suspect's vehicle, the suspect exited the vehicle and walked to the rear. Upon seeing Sergeant Kimberling, the suspect ran back to the driver's seat of the vehicle. Sergeant Kimberling intercepted the suspect and a struggle ensued. The suspect shot at Sergeant Kimberling twice, both rounds were stopped by Sergeant Kimberling's vest. Sergeant Kimberling ran for cover and returned fire, striking the suspect twice in the leg. The suspect shot at Sergeant Kimberling three more times. Two of those rounds were stopped by his vest also, but one penetrated Sergeant Kimberling's chest. The suspect then shot and killed himself at the scene. The entire incident occurred in less than one minute. Friske was being sought in Wisconsin as a suicide threat. That information, however, was uploaded to NCIC only one minute before Sergeant Kimberling called in the license check, and was not yet available to dispatchers.

Sergeant Kimberling was posthumously awarded the Citation for Valor by his department. He had been with the agency for 14 years and is survived by his wife, Kelly, and two young children. Interred: Jamesport Masonic Cemetery.