FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ) – It has been ten years since Fond du Lac Police Officer Craig Birkholz was shot and killed in the line of duty.
“These anniversaries, they’re not anniversaries you want to celebrate,” said now-Lieutenant Ryan Williams.
Listen to the full conversation here:
On March 20th, 2011, a woman showed up at the Fond du Lac Police Department to report she had been sexually assaulted, and that her child was likely still in the home with the perpetrator.
Williams was part of the initial team that showed up to take that man into custody. But things quickly went sideways.
“We made entry and were ambushed by a subject with a rifle. I was shot and Craig Birkholtz kind of responding to that call [from] me and a couple other officers because we were getting shot at,” Williams recalled. “When he responded to the scene, he was shot responding to try to help me, save my life. I was fortunate enough to survive the incident. He was unfortunately killed.”
But the exact details of the situation were a bit fuzzy for Williams, and that’s not because it was a decade ago.
“[I was the] first one there, the first one to get shot, and the first one to leave. I had some pretty substantial injuries,” Williams said. “I did see Craig, where he was shot, and where he was during that call. But at that point, I was in a dire situation. So my survival, I had to concentrate all of my efforts on that at that point…The reason I survived is that I had an extra ballistic vest on, which was not a common thing at that time. Now almost every department in the United States [has] patrol officers carrying extra ballistic vests.”
Fond du Lac Police Officer Craig Birkholz was killed in the line of duty on March 20th, 2011. (PHOTO: Courtesy Fond du Lac Police)
However, this year has turned a corner for Williams. He says it affects you differently in different years, and just two years ago – he felt like it had just happened. This year, he says it feels like it’s been awhile since the incident.
Williams got to know Birkholz’s friends and family in the time following the incident, forming what he called a new family. He says that bond has held strong over the years.
“The cops organization always says it’s a family you never want to have, but you need,” Williams explained.
As for how Birkholz was as an officer, Williams will never forget the high standards he held for himself.
“He always wanted perfection, always strived for the best. He would have supervisors read over his reports and say ‘I know it’s good right now, but what is it going to make this the best?'” Williams said. “Definitely, if he was still with us, he would be climbing up the ranks of the police department. There’s no doubt about it in my mind.”
Birkholz is still with the department – at least in their hearts and minds.
“His memory is everywhere. We actually have squad 67, named after his badge number, that we always have in our fleet. Most of us carry some sort of memorabilia bearing his badge or his badge number in one way, shape, or another,” Williams told WTAQ News. “A lot of officers will honor him by doing a memorial bike ride to Washington DC for police week for the national law enforcement memorial. There’s a lot of different ways.”
Each year, there is a small flower and wreath laying at the memorial site in Fond du Lac. Williams says the informal gathering allows people to mourn or think about Birkholz in their own way. The annual Birky Challenge bike ride also raises money for several charities in his honor.
While Birkholz is no longer serving among his law enforcement brethren, his impact continues to make a difference. Williams says Birkholz and the events of that fateful day changed policing for the better.
“Things in law enforcement, in general, have changed so much in ten years. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come…Craig’s legacy that he left is that we as the Fond du Lac Police Department are so much better prepared for an incident. If the same incident [happened] today, for one we’d probably handle it differently and hopefully avoid any loss of life. But we also have the tools necessary that we need,” Williams said. “We’ve kind of metamorphosized into this agency that’s probably one of the best in the state in response to active shooter events, just because we’ve prepared and it’s real to us now…It’s made us better, it’s made us safer, and it’s all really in Craig’s honor too. He held a legacy that is going to save officers live in the future and forever.”
That response has been on display multiple times over the past decade, including the reaction to the 2015 death of State Trooper Trevor Casper within city limits, and another shooter who opened fire on officers with a .50 caliber rifle.
Birkholz was on the police force for two years and also spent five years in the Army, where he served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Birkholz is originally from Kenosha and received a degree in criminal justice from UW-Oshkosh. He is survived by his wife and parents.
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