A Kentucky police officer lauded as a hero for racing toward gunfire in an effort to take down a mass shooter at a Louisville bank has come off the ventilator some four weeks after he was shot in the head.
Niklas Wilt was one of the first officers on the scene of the massacre at Old National Bank, near Louisville Slugger Field and Waterfront Park, the morning of April 10. He had just graduated from the police academy 11 days prior, but did not hesitate to run toward the danger.
Police said 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, an employee at the bank, burst into the building on East Main Street, and opened fire during a staff meeting with an AR-15.
Five people were killed in the massacre, all of them bank employees. Another eight people were wounded, including Wilt, who was shot in the head, while another responding officer, Cory Galloway, suffered a graze wound to the shoulder.
Wilt required brain surgery following a gunfire exchange with the shooter — who was fatally shot during the confrontation — and then placed into a medically induced coma. While his recovery has been slow, his fellow officers have said he’s been steadily improving over the last week and that they remain optimistic about his future.
“We are happy to announce that Officer Wilt is officially off the ventilator and all other life-sustaining equipment,” according to an updated shared by the Louisville Metro Police Department. “Additionally, he has shown improvement neurologically and is able to follow some commands.”
Still, Wilt is not quite out of the woods yet. He still has “pneumonia and other lung complications,” but doctors say he could be transferred to a rehab facility within the next few days.
“Officer Wilt is entering the ‘long haul’ of his recovery, which will undoubtedly be difficult,” police said, “but he remains strong and determined.”