Colleagues and friends are remembering Officer John Hetland, killed while trying to stop an armed robbery at Teezers Bar in Racine Monday night.
State Senator Van Wanggaard was a Racine Police Officer before he was a legislator and worked with Hetland.
Makeshift vigil happening now outside @RacinePD for Officer John Hetland. @tmj4 pic.twitter.com/uh93DtqDVO
— Tom Durian (@TMJ4Tom) June 19, 2019
Wanggaard was the senior traffic investigator and trained the younger Hetland.
“He always had a servants heart, volunteering for activities,” he said.
The senator found out about his former colleague’s death this morning.
He says “it’s going to be truly a huge loss to our department.”
Reports say Hetland was off-duty when he jumped over the bar to stop a robbery in progress when he was shot. Wanggaard says that’s exactly the type of person he was.
“He’s the kind of guy that would be running towards gunfire not the opposite direction," he said.
