BRIGHTON, Mich. – A man was found dead in a trailer after Brighton police noticed a stolen U-Haul in a Meijer parking lot and surrounded it for several hours.
Officials began investigating the trailer around 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 21, in the parking lot of the Meijer store on Grand River Avenue in Brighton.
The travel trailer was seen next to a U-Haul truck on the north side of the store. Police said the registered owner of the trailer had several warrants out for his arrest, including for a felony weapons offense. He was also suspected of stealing the U-Haul.
When officers first tried to speak to the people inside the trailer, they didn’t get an answer. After officers used a loudspeaker from a police cruiser, a woman showed up at the door of the trailer and told police that the man had left with the U-Haul two hours ago.
Since the U-Haul was still parked next to the trailer, officers believed the man had not left. They continued to try to speak to him.
More officers arrived and helped surround the trailer. The woman eventually walked out, and police spoke with the man, who was still inside.
Authorities said they tried several times to convince the man to exit the trailer, but his phone disconnected after about 30 minutes of communication. Members of the Livingston Regional SWAT and Negotiator teams were called to the scene, but nobody could make contact with the man.
The SWAT team approached the trailer around 7:20 p.m. Sunday and deployed a noise, flash, distraction device. They broke a window and used a pole camera to look inside the trailer.
Officials said the man was dead inside the trailer. They determined that he had killed himself.
No officers or bystanders were injured during the standoff. Police said no shots were fired.