former NYPD officer was killed - shot in the back - after a dispute over a curbside dice game in Jamaica, Queens.

Colin Bowlin, 28, had been rolling dice on Sutphin Blvd. near 113th Ave. about 4 a.m. yesterday, when an argument broke out over money, said a police source.

Bowlin left the game and was walking away when he was shot once in the lower back, police said.

His cousin, who was with him at the time, loaded him into a car and rushed him to North Shore University Hospital in Rego Park, where he died a short time later, said police.

"The guy fired and hit him in the back," said Bowlin's brother, Mark, 33, calling the shooter a coward.

"If he was such a brave guy, why not fight him? If he was man enough to pull the trigger, he's man enough to take responsibility for it," he said, urging the shooter to surrender.

Bowlin, who lived in Hollis, joined the NYPD in 2005, when he was 22 years old and worked in the 101st Precinct in Far Rockaway, his brother said.

Bowlin resigned from the NYPD in 2008, said police.

He had been working as a security guard for an armored courier service, family said.

Police yesterday were still hunting for the shooter.Clare Trapasso