One year after Merrillville police Patrolman Nickolaus Schultz was shot to death in an ambush, fellow officers say they will never forget the man they had come to love and respect or the manner of his death.
Several of the police officers are working to make sure future generations are aware of Schultz and the ultimate sacrifice he made. They are planning, designing and raising funds for a memorial in his honor to be erected in front of Town Hall.
They hope construction will begin in the spring.
Patrolman William Hanner said he thinks of Schultz every time he clears a building when responding to an alarm call.
“I’ve become extremely vigilant, even when sitting in my marked car at a red light,” said Hanner, who was only on the job for three months when Schultz was shot in the head Sept. 5, 2014, by someone who had been evicted from a home. The shooter, Michael Hrnciar, 33, then turned the gun on himself.
Schultz, 24, a Lowell resident, died two days later at an Illinois hospital. He remains the only Merrillville officer killed in the line of duty.
“I took the job knowing what could happen. You just never think something like that would happen that close to you,” said Hanner, who started with the force in June 2014 after serving in the Marines for six years.
Patrolman Curtis Minchuk, president of Merrillville Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 168, said morale can get low at times among the police officers as they think about Schultz and his death, but they’ll pick each others’ spirits up.
“We understand we have to do a job. We just never forget,” Minchuk said.
He said the police officers help each other on the job to keep one another safe.
“Officer Hanner could be off-duty, but if another officer is at a traffic stop, he would stop and help him,” Minchuk said, adding that the ability of police officers living in town to have take-home squad cars makes this more possible.
Hanner said the police department does everything it can to keep the officers safe and to prepare them for different situations they could encounter. He said in addition to bulletproof vests, the department has a shield that officers can use to help break a bullet strike.
He said when going into a building in an unknown situation, a police dog will often lead the way now.
Councilwoman Carol Miano, D-3rd, has asked for laws that would help keep police officers and residents safe, such as the newly passed ordinance outlawing the sale and use of gun-shaped cellphone cases. She said she’d also like to see the officers have more training and their numbers increased.
“You can never get enough training,” Miano said. “You don’t know what these men and women go through.”
She said she’s not calling for a police state but that if more police officers were hired, there would be a greater possibility of allowing the officers the time for additional training. Miano said she believes there are 54 police officers on the force now.
More laws are needed to protect police officers, Minchuk said, adding he appreciates the actions the council has taken.
“It shows that they care,” he said.
Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
