Trooper kills man who wounded deputy with crossbow
CATO TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- A 40-year-old Michigan man who wounded a sheriff's deputy with a crossbow arrow was then shot and killed by a state trooper.
The trooper and a Montcalm County deputy were both shot at with the crossbow while serving an arrest warrant Friday night at the man's Cato Township home, state police Lt. Kevin Sweeney told The Associated Press Saturday.
The deputy was struck in the side and was stable Saturday following surgery. The Cato Township man, who has not been identified, was shot at least once by the trooper and died at the scene.
State police "policy permits officers to point or discharge a firearm in self-defense or defense of another when he or she reasonably believes there is imminent danger of death or great bodily harm," Lt. Sweeney wrote in a news release.
The trooper has been with the state police about two-and-a-half years and, in accordance with department policy, was placed on administrative duty while the shooting is investigated.
Kevin Schultz, a neighbor of the man who was killed, told MLive.com that there was a confrontation between the man and Schultz's family on Friday morning, in which the man accused them of stealing his marijuana and later displayed a hunting knife.
Schultz also said the man told him what he would do if police showed up.
"He said if they come up to my house, they aren't taking me alive," Schultz told MLive.
Schultz said police went to his neighbor's home just before midnight Friday and the man's wife opened the door.
"I thought I could see a cop drop, then I saw muzzle fire," Schultz said.
Cato Township is about 50 miles northeast of Grand Rapids.