In the summer of 1987, a domestic disturbance call on Hendricks Street in northern Vigo County, Indiana, ended in tragedy with the death of a dedicated law enforcement officer. Sergeant Walter Kevin Artz, a 31-year-old male and an 11-year veteran of the Vigo County Sheriff's Department, was fatally shot on the evening of July 1, 1987. He and his fellow officers were responding to a report of a dispute and were attempting to de-escalate the situation with an armed man at the rear of the residence.
As Sergeant Artz and his partner tried to calm the 64-year-old man, the situation took a sudden and violent turn. Without warning, the man began firing a pistol at the officers. Sergeant Artz was struck by the gunfire, sustaining a fatal wound. The other officers on the scene immediately returned fire, wounding the suspect. Following the exchange of gunfire, the suspect then took his own life.
Sergeant Artz was rushed to Union Hospital in Terre Haute, but he succumbed to his injuries. The suspect died at the scene from what was determined to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being wounded by the officers. Due to the suspect's death at the scene, there were no subsequent arrests or trials in connection with Sergeant Artz's murder. The fallen officer was survived by his wife and two daughters.
