Officer Schneider's family honored in Lake City - KXLT - Fox 47 Rochester MN News, Weather and Sports

LAKE CITY, Minn. (FOX 47) -- Nine months ago, a Lake City police officer was fatally wounded while responding to a domestic dispute call. On Tuesday, residents in Lake City honored officer Shawn Schneider and his family.

The ceremony only lasted 25 minutes, but the City Hall ballroom in Lake City was filled with people honoring the family that will never forget what happened last December.

Shawn Schneider responded to the call that ended his life after he was fatally shot near a house in the line of duty.

His wife Brittany and three children were the recipients of a plaque on Tuesday from the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Minnesota Commissioner of Public Safety, Mona Dohman, also read a proclamation from Gov. Mark Dayton.

"As a law enforcement officer and former police chief, I know that the people in this room are proud of the man they loved, the man they served beside, the one who wore that uniform as an outward indication of what lay deep within Shawn Schneider," said Dohman.

"He's a hero," said Schneider's sister Monica. "He's Minnesota's hero and we are just so proud of him." Monica explained not a day goes by she doesn't miss what she loved so much. "Probably just him as my older brother and his guidance and everything else."

A friend of Brittany Schneider, Rachel Foss, is also the wife of a Lake City police officer. "I just feel for her a lot," Foss explained. "And I know it could have been me, and I know she would have been there supporting me as well."

Officer Shawn Schneider was on the Lake City police force for 9 years -- long enough for this town to know him as more than just a man with a badge. He was fatally wounded when he responded to a domestic dispute, a call that law enforcement agencies everywhere dread on a daily basis.