How officers from around Oakland County took suicidal man who wanted to die in police shootout into custody

Man tells officers he wanted to kill himself in shootout with police

An 18-year-old Michigan man has been arrested for sexual assault, police said. (WDIV)

ROYAL OAK, Mich. – Police officers from several cities in Oakland County managed to arrest a suicidal man in Royal Oak who said he wanted to kill himself in a shootout with police, according to authorities.

Police said they received a call at 2:23 a.m. Tuesday about a man inside a commercial building in the 4900 block of Fernlee Avenue.

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The man said he was armed and wanted to kill himself in a shootout with police, officials said.

Police set up a perimeter while negotiating with the man over the phone. Officers from Troy, Clawson, Madison Heights, Berkley and Birmingham helped set up the perimeter.

The man was armed with a rifle and repeatedly exited the building, trying to provoke officers into shooting him by attempting to walk up to them and quickly reach for his weapon, according to authorities.

At one point, the man approached an officer and trapped him in a spot with nowhere to retreat, police said. He was holding the rifle at his side and motioning as if he was about to level it at the officer, authorities said. Other police officers had to distract him at this point, officials said.

The man eventually returned to the business and members of the Oakland County SWAT team arrived to take the inner perimeter, officials said.

A “less lethal munition” was used around 5 a.m. to temporarily disable the man, police said. He was taken into custody and transported to a nearby hospital for treatment of minor injuries and a mental health evaluation, according to authorities.

“The officers on scene utilized excellent teamwork and showed tremendous restraint while continuing to attempt to deescalate the situation,” Royal Oak police Chief Corrigan O’Donohue said. “This individual stated several times he wanted to shoot it out with police. I can’t emphasize enough what a great job our officers did tonight, particularly the level of restraint they exercised in this incident."


About the Author:

Derick is the Lead Digital Editor for ClickOnDetroit and has been with Local 4 News since April 2013. Derick specializes in breaking news, crime and local sports.