Bryan Leslie Schultz was a constable tragically shot and killed during a call out to a domestic dispute in Lower Hutt on the 3rd of February 1963. Bryan was a well respected young man who had a strong academic and sporting background from Auckland Grammar School captaining the softball team in 1955 and a member of the softball first IX. He had a good reputation in the police force and was said to have been able to get along with anyone.
It was generally accepted up until the time of this sad event (which followed another police shooting less than a month earlier in Auckland) that New Zealand police were unarmed and generally attended the scene of reported crimes without firearms. Even when police were armed there was usually no special firearms training or expert officers available for such calls out, although armed criminals were not unknown and there had been earlier deaths involving firearms.
As a result of the earlier Waitakere and this shooting in Lower Hutt an Armed Offenders Squad was established within the New Zealand Police and there was a general review of police tactics to be used during incidents where firearms were involved. The gunman received 11 years in prison.
Credit to Auckland Grammar School Archives and Stuff.
Bryan Leslie Schultz
Died 1963
