GLENDALE, AZ — On November 15, 2023, a Valley veteran and father of two was shot in the head while he was street preaching in Glendale.
For months, Hans Schmidt has been recovering from the shooting — and now he's ready to share his story.
Warning: Some images in this story and in the video player above may be graphic. Viewer discretion is advised.
Surrounded by exhaust, horns and the gospel, you'll find Hans with a microphone in hand at the corner of 51st and Peoria avenues.
However, on that November night, his preaching ended abruptly.
"I remember falling to my knee. And then after that, I was like, 'Oh, something's not right,'" Hans said. "I grabbed all my gear, put it back in the car. I drove my car back to church."
"He just, like, comes to the car and, like, I remember just seeing, like blood," said Hans' wife, Zulya Schmidt. "And I'm like, 'What happened? What happened?'"
Hans tells ABC15 that he was trying to speak to his wife but no words were coming out.
That was when Zulya and her brother decided to take Hans to the hospital. At that point, Hans didn't realize that he had been shot.
"And luckily he did, because that's when, all the way there, I started seizing," Hans said.
Hans arrived unresponsive at the hospital. A CT scan revealed a bullet in his brain.
Doctors and detectives all believed that Hans' death was inevitable.
"Even the neurosurgeon was like, nothing we can do. The detective was like, 'We'll know more after the autopsy.' And I was like, that's kind of when it became real," Zulya said. "There was no hope."
Hans was placed on life support and was in a medically induced coma.
"Those days felt like really long," Zulya said. "I was scared that, you know, I'd never hear his voice again."
But as each hour and each day passed, the miracle began to take form. Zulya says she pleaded to God and after ABC15 told Hans' story, prayers poured in for his family.
One month later, Hans looked at his wife and spoke for the first time.
"Then he's like, 'It's fine.'" I was like, 'What?! You just spoke?'" Zulya said. "And I was like super stoked about it."
In January, Hans was finally able to go home and was greeted by his daughter and infant son.
"What's it like to come home to your wife and your two babies every day?" ABC15 asked.
"It's a miracle, absolutely a miracle," Hans said. "I should not be alive, realistically, I should be dead. And because of His grace and His love, I'm still here."
One of the most unique parts of Hans' recovery is that he now lives with bullet fragments in his brain. Doctors decided that it was too risky to operate to remove what's left.
Hans' recovery includes daily speech and occupational therapy. He's eager to get back to work and doctors say he should be able to return to a somewhat "normal" life — the simplicity of normal that he and his wife prayed for.
Even knowing that the person who fired the gun is still out there, Hans is back at the corner of 51st and Peoria avenues, ready to share his new testimony.
"I don't think that holding a grudge against him is going to change anything," Hans said. "I think it's important to forgive people. And I forgive him."
An online fundraiser was created to help the family with expenses.
