Police: Zionsville man who barricaded self in house was upset over old girlfriend

ZIONSVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — The man who barricaded himself in his Zionsville home Wednesday was upset over an old girlfriend, according to the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.

According to Sheriff Michael Nielsen, 29-year-old Nick Schuler’s emotions got the best of him, leading him to walk up and down the street in his neighborhood with a handgun.

When Schuler pointed it at one of his neighbors, they the called police.

Schuler barricaded himself inside the house and refused to come out or talk to police, but he could been seen moving from room to room, waving a handgun.

Celisa Marsh lives down the street from Schuler and was a witness to the hours-long standoff between Schuler and the police.

“We were hearing the loud explosions and [police] on the megaphone, trying to get him out, that is essentially what we have been hearing all morning,” Marsh said.

Police shot tear gas and pepper spray into the house twice. The first time, Schuler came out of the house waving a pistol and then went back inside.

At around noon, police fired another round of tear gas, which gave them an opening to get inside and bring the hours-long standoff to an end.

“We sent our SWAT team in after numerous attempts to provide gas inside the building, inject gas inside the building, and [at] noon lethal force had no effect on him, and we had to go in and take him with force,” Sheriff Nielsen said.

Nielsen says police have been to Schuler’s house several times recently.

Schuler is currently on probation, according to Nielsen.

Nielsen says he gave Schuler a ride home a few months ago.

“We had a great talk, so whether it is the emotional stress, whether it is drugs that caused this emotional state today, I don’t know, but we will get a professional to look at that and figure it out,” Nielsen said.

Neighbor Celia Marsh says the situation is not what she expected in Zionsville.

“It does leave a little bit of an uneasy feeling for us, because I moved out to Zionsville to be in a little bit safer neighborhood. To [my] girls, I always tell them to keep the doors locked and don’t open the door to strangers, and this happened in the middle of the night, so this gives you an even more uneasy feeling,” Marsh said.

Police said Schuler was taken to a hospital after the standoff. He will eventually face charges for pointing a handgun at one of his neighbors.