MERRILLVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A northwestern Indiana police officer has died after being shot in an apparent ambush by a man who subsequently killed himself.
Merrillville police Officer Nickolaus Schultz had been on the police force for about a year when he was shot in the head Friday night. Police spokesman Robert Byrd says the 24-year-old Schultz died Sunday.
Schultz graduated last year from central Indiana's Franklin College, where he was a football captain. Dozens of Franklin students attended a vigil for Schultz on Sunday.
Byrd says Schultz and other officers were responding to a call about a break-in at a Merrillville condominium when 33-year-old Michael Hrnciar, who was wearing body armor, fired on them with a handgun. Authorities say the officers returned fire but that Hrnciar died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
