MERRILLVILLE, Ind. (AP) _ The northwestern Indiana police officer killed in the line of duty is being remembered across the state as a leader committed to making a difference.
Authorities say 24-year-old Merrillville Officer Nickolaus Schultz died Sunday, two days after a man wearing body armor shot him in the head during an apparent ambush. Officials say that man then fatally shot himself.
Schultz was a 2009 Lowell High School graduate and was an offensive lineman on the school's 2007 Class 4A state runner-up football team.
Dozens of students at central Indiana's Franklin College gathered Sunday at a vigil for Schultz. He graduated from Franklin last year and was a football team captain.
Franklin football coach Mike Leonard says he wasn't surprised Schultz became a police officer and that he was unselfish and hardworking.