Sex Crime Fugitive Fatally Shot By Cops Outside Warren Party Store
WARREN (WWJ) - Police say a wanted fugitive was fatally shot, Thursday afternoon, in a gun battle with task force officers in Warren.
According to Michigan State Police, members of the US Marshal Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team were tracking a 34-year-old Detroit man — wanted on a sex crime warrant — when he stepped outside an apartment at Martin and Hoover roads, south of 12 Mile.
MSP First Lt. Mike Shaw says the suspect, identified as Frederick Ricardo Brown, then ran across the street next to the Original Buscemi's party store.
"As he made contact, the officers identified themselves," Shaw told WWJ's Sandra McNeill. "He reached into his waistband and pulled out a handgun. Gunshots were exchanged between officers and the suspect."
Brown was shot, Shaw said, and was taken by EMS to a local hospital where he died a short time later.
Witness Earl Grobbel called the WWJ newsroom from the Buscemi's parking lot just after it happened.
"I go there every day, because that's where I get my piece of pizza; that's my lunch," Grobbel told WWJ's Jason Scott. "While I was in the van all I heard was this mass of gunshots — at first I thought it was fire crackers."
"So I got out of the van and I looked, and I guess the guy had turned and was pointing a gun and the police and they just shot," Grobbel said. "They just kept on firing."
Another witness, who works at Family Video next door, said she heard around ten shots total. Shaw said some vehicles in the parking lot were hit, but no officers or bystanders were injured.
According to State Police, three officers were involved in the shootout. One is a US Marshal, one is a Detroit police officer and the third is assigned to the Michigan Department of Corrections. The officers' names were not immediately released.
Authorities say Brown was wanted on a charge of first degree criminal sexual conduct involving an underage female family member.
State Police will be handling the ongoing investigation.
