HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — A suspected car thief has been shot by police in Allegan County, according to police on Sunday, June 16, 2019.
Allegan County Sheriff’s Office emailed a statement to media indicating this incident started at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 15, 2019, when deputies were dispatched to a report of a stolen vehicle in the Martin area and began looking for the suspect.
Later Saturday night, the suspect abandoned that vehicle and stole another vehicle from the Wayland area, crashing it in the Hopkins area. Deputies attempted a K-9 track, but couldn’t find the suspect.
At 7 a.m. Sunday, police learned the suspect car-jacked another vehicle, while armed with an assault rifle.
Police learned he was in northwest Allegan County, near 128th Avenue and 56th Street in Manlius Township — shooting at houses.
He broke into a home and held the occupants at gunpoint, police said, while attempting to steal another vehicle.
Allegan deputies confronted the suspect as he was attempting to leave the residence in that vehicle.
He refused to obey commands, police said, and was heading back to the house when deputies “engaged the suspect with gunfire,” according to the police statement, which indicated the suspect was wounded, but no deputies or civilians were.
According to a public Facebook post by one woman, who wrote that she was one of several people accosted by the man, described as a white male in his late 20s or early 30s.
The woman (who asked that her name be redacted from this story) wrote that the man attempted to steal at her vehicle at gunpoint, and that she was not his only victim.
This is a breaking-news story and will be updated as information becomes available.
The investigation continues.
