Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force Report

Northwest Indiana
Major Crimes Task Force

PRESS RELEASE
September 12, 2014

Major Crimes Completes Murder Investigation of
Merrillville Police Officer Nickolaus Schultz

The Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force has completed their investigation into
the murder of Merrillville Police Officer Nickolaus Schultz.

Officer Schultz died on Sunday (09-07-14) at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak
Lawn, IL, after being shot on Friday (09-05-14) at the Tempe Lake Condominiums in Merrillville,
IN. Officer Schultz was investigating a complaint that a previously evicted resident had illegally
re-entered his former home and re-established residency.

The investigation concludes that Michael Hrnciar, 33, of 8219 Lincoln Circle, Unit B,
Merrillville, was evicted from his condominium after his financial institution foreclosed on his
mortgage on July 11, 2014. On several occasions in August, property management at the
condominium complex had to change damaged door locks at Hrnciars former residence after
discovering the locks had been tampered with and the unit entered. During that same period,
Hrnciar had been seen multiple times by residents at the complex. As a result, property
management asked that the police be called if Hrnciar was ever seen entering his former unit.

At 10:45 PM on Friday (09-05-14), four Merrillville police officers responded to the
Tempe Lake Condominiums after Hrnciars vehicle was found parked outside of his former
building and windows that were previously closed were discovered opened for ventilation.
After the police tried multiple times to get Hrnciar to answer the door, on scene property
managers authorized officers to force entry into the unit.

With no electricity for lighting, police used their flashlights to systematically search the
condo. Hrnciar, wearing police-style body armor and lying in wait at the end of a hallway,
ambushed the officers by firing two shots from a .45 caliber handgun down the hallway and
into the living room. One bullet struck Officer Schultz, another bullet entered a wall. Hrnciar
then fired a third time which drew return gunfire from another Merrillville police officer. That
officer fired his weapon twice into the direction of where Hrnciar was located. The on-scene
officers then held a strategic position and called for back-up assistance.

As Northwest Regional SWAT team members extracted Officer Schultz from the living
room, other SWAT members advanced into the hallway to engage Hrnciar, only to find him
dead on the hallway floor.

The Lake County Coroners Office ruled that Hrnciar died from a single, self-inflicted
gunshot wound to the head and that he had not been struck by any other gunfire. Toxicology
reports are pending. The Lake County Sheriffs Department Crime Lab determined that the gun
used to kill Officer Schultz was the same gun Hrnciar took his life with. The third shot fired by
Hrnciar was the self-inflicted round that killed him.

Hrnciar worked for ten years as a buyer at an Illinois chemical business and had no
reported workplace problems. He reportedly purchased his Merrillville condominium and
moved to Indiana from Illinois in 2006 so he could legally carry a handgun. At the time of the
shooting, Hrnciar held a valid Indiana Handgun Permit that was issued to him in 2006, the same
year he purchased the handgun that was used in Officer Schultzs murder. Having financial
problems, Hrnciars former employer said that he quit his job in January of 2013, to cash-out his
company pension and use the money to pay down debt. Hrnciar was not married and had no
children. His parents are divorced. He had no prior criminal arrests.

Hrnciar had a fascination with commercial-grade fireworks and evidence recovered from
his former residence indicated that he was illegally manufacturing explosives. The Porter
County Sheriffs Department Bomb Squad took custody of the explosives, while the Lake County
Haz-Mat Team and an environmental clean-up contractor took custody of other flammable,
highly toxic chemicals that posed a risk to residents. Those items were shipped to an out-of-
state EPA approved incinerator for disposal.

In addition to facing potential felony Burglary charges for breaking into the condo,
Hrnciar possessed a half-gallon jar of high-grade processed Marijuana, and an elaborate, non-
functioning, Marijuana growing operation.

The Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force is an investigative unit comprised of 60
detectives from 25 law enforcement agencies in Lake and Porter counties in Indiana. The
following agencies assisted Major Crimes with the investigation: U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Lake County Sheriffs Department Crime Lab, Lake County
Coroners Office, Northwest Regional SWAT, Porter County Sheriffs Department Bomb Squad,
Merrillville Fire Department, Lake County Haz-Mat Unit and the Cook County Medical
Examiners Office.

# END #

CONTACT PERSON: Robert Byrd, Spokesperson
Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force
219-898-0059 Cell

Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force Report

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