Police: Michigan officers shoot man who pointed gun at them
Aug 25, 2022, 10:57 AM | Updated: 12:05 pm
Michigan State Police watch as Grand Rapids firefighters spray down the scene where a Grand Rapids Police officer-involved shooting happened near Bonita Drive and Forrester Street SE in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Thursday Aug. 25, 2022. Two Michigan police officers shot a man early Thursday after he pointed a gun at officers responding to reports of car break-ins, police said. The suspect is expected to survive. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)
(Joel Bissell/MLive.com/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Two Michigan police officers shot and wounded a man early Thursday after he pointed a gun at them as they investigated reports of car break-ins, police said.
The police shooting in Grand Rapids comes about two months after a now-fired city police officer was charged with murder after fatally shooting Patrick Lyoya, a Black man, during an April traffic stop.
During Thursday’s shooting, both officers fired at a man who ran away before turning and pointing a gun at them in the city about 160 miles (260 kilometers) west of Detroit, according to police. The man, who was struck multiple times, was listed in serious condition at a hospital. Police said he is expected to survive, The Grand Rapids Press reported.
Police Chief Eric Winstrom said he had watched police body camera footage and dashcam video of the shooting that happened about 1:45 a.m. He said the officers arrived in the same cruiser and found the man sitting in a car.
“They make an announcement: ‘Stop, police.’ They turn lights on, their emergency lights, so they’re clearly visible as a police car. They start walking on foot. The man runs, so they run. As they approach him, the man turns with a gun (in) his hand and points it directly at one of the officers,” Winstrom said at a news conference.
He said he did not know whether the man fired any shots. Winstrom said both officers were “very shaken up.”
Michigan State Police are investigating the shooting in accordance with city policy.
Winstrom said the Grand Rapids Police Department is working to edit the police footage for privacy or legal reasons before releasing it to the public.
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