BATTLE CREEK, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Battle Creek Police Chief Jim Blocker and Deputy Police Chief Shannon Bagley provided an update on Wednesday, December 28 on the investigation into two officers who shot a 22-year-old man in Bedford Township on Christmas Day Sunday.
It all unfolded when officers went to a home on North Birdsall Drive around 2 p.m. on a report that a woman had been assaulted by her boyfriend. But the accused man had already left the area when officers arrived.
According to police, the same woman called 9-1-1 again around 10:30 that night, saying that the man had returned with a knife and was making suicidal statements. Three officers already in the area on an unrelated call responded to the home on North Birdsall and found the man and woman arguing in the backyard with several other subjects present.
When officers moved closer to investigate, the man pulled what appeared to be a dark-colored handgun from his waistband. The officers then yelled for him to “drop it now.” Two of the three officers shot a total of five rounds hitting the man twice in the torso when he refused to comply.
Chief Blocker praised the actions of his officers for the on the spot decisions they had to make in just mere seconds saying,”You don’t know what kind of call you’re going to get until that moment you get out of that car, and they had just seconds to respond.
Officers then found what Deputy Police Chief Shannon Bagley called a “well done” revolver replica along with two knives on the man, who’s currently listed in serious condition in Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo.
Bagley went onto say there were no other injuries and that police have reached out to the woman involved.
The Michigan State Police have now taking over the investigation.
Both video of press conference and body cam footage below:
