Chesterton Police Lt. Dave Virijevich and Corporal Nolan Mancera have each received a Medal of Valor, the department’s highest honor, for their actions in a shootout involving a wanted suspect outside the Hilton Garden Inn on June 18, 2025.
The awards were presented Monday during Chesterton’s Police Commission meeting. In addition, Mancera received a Purple Heart because he was wounded during the shootout. The suspect, Joseph Gerber, 45, of Winamac, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head, along with suffering other gunshot wounds, the Porter County Coroner’s office found.
Chesterton Police Chief Tim Richardson said the two officers have deservedly received a number of honors in recent months.
Virijevich and Mancera were recognized in May as Officers of the Year by the District 1 Law Enforcement Council for Northwest Indiana.
The Duneland Chamber of Commerce also recently honored the two officers as the Servicepersons of the Year.
On that morning of June 18, 2025, the two officers responded to the Hilton Garden Inn on a report of a person acting erratically. Assistant Police Chief Cisco Rodriguez narrated what happened next.
The two officers persuaded the man to leave the grounds. And they displayed compassion in trying to de-escalate the situation as they offered assistance to help him purchase a replacement serpentine belt for his broken-down vehicle.
But the man backed away from the officers and told them he had a firearm. Despite repeated commands to keep his hands visible, he fled across Gateway Boulevard and then abruptly turned and fired at Mancera.
Despite being wounded, Mancera stayed in the fight and returned fire. Virijevich recognized his partner was exposed in the roadway and that several civilians were positioned behind him inside the hotel.
Virijevich shot the suspect and was able to neutralize him.
Mancera was transported to a regional trauma center in Chicago and, following months of intensive therapy, returned to duty.
“Throughout his recovery, he expressed no bitterness or resentment and continued to greet his colleagues and community with his charismatic smile and positive spirit,” Rodriguez said.
Virijevich demonstrated “exceptional leadership, sound judgment and extraordinary bravery” in protecting his wounded partner, safeguarding innocent civilians and taking decisive action to end the threat.
Chesterton Police Officer Jorge Perez was also presented with a letter of commendation for his actions in assisting the Porter Police Department in defusing a situation involving a suicidal man who climbed up on railroad equipment near the crossing at Jackson Street and Lincoln Street on June 12, 2026.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.