Prime Minister Beata Szydło announced the officer's widow and two children, aged eight and 12, would receive "special state benefits."
The police officer had served in the force for 14 years.
Twelve officers, including anti-terrorist police, had been deployed when police were told that a burglary was underway targeting a cash machine in southern Poland.
As police approached the container that housed the cash machine, the container's doors opened and the suspect opened fire from an automatic weapon, police chief Szymczyk said.
At the head of the police operation was an officer with a bullet-proof shield, but "the force of the shots which hit the shield was so strong that the police officer was knocked off his feet and some of the remaining police were exposed, which is probably when the shots hit the other officers,” Szymczyk added.
Three other police officers were injured as they tried to apprehend the 42-year-old man attempting to break into the cash machine.
One was shot in the hip and another in the hand and both remain in hospital but their injuries are not life-threatening.
The third police officer, who was shot in the thigh, has been released from hospital.
Police returned fire and the suspected bank robber was killed at the scene, Szymczyk said.
He had previously had encounters with the police over the theft of property and cars, burglaries and involvement in organised crime, according to Szymczyk.
Police detained the would-be bank robber's suspected accomplice, a 41-year-old man who had been in a car parked nearby. He was also previously written up by police for involvement in property theft and involvement in organised crime.
A third man, whom police know to be an associate of the bank robber and his accomplice, has also been detained.
According to Szymczyk, 114 police officers have died in the line of duty in Poland since 1990. (vb/pk)
Source: PAP