Police: Man shot in Lenawee Co. was armed

Report indicates officers fired in self defense on possibly delusional man who wielded shotgun.

8/13/2014

 

ADRIAN -- Four Lenawee County Sheriff‘‍s deputies were placed on administrative leave after an incident late Tuesday in which a 54-year-old man was shot and killed by deputies.

Authorities said the man was armed with a shotgun and ignored orders to drop the weapon.

The Michigan State Police and Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office, in a joint news release, stated that sheriff’s deputies responded at about 8:15 p.m. to a Fairfield Township residence “to enforce a court order for hospitalization.”

The order pertained to a 54-year-old man “who was suffering from mental illness and was in need of immediate evaluation,” according to the statement.

Family members told deputies the man was paranoid and delusional, and the man was armed with a shotgun when deputies entered the residence.

“After the subject ignored repeated verbal commands to lower the weapon, the subject pointed the shotgun at the deputies, forcing them to discharge their firearms in self-defense,” the statement read.

The subject, whom authorities did not identify, was pronounced dead at the scene. Lenawee County Sheriff Jack Welsh would not say how many times the man was shot.

He said the hospitalization order was initiated by a community mental health agency on the same day that officers went to enforce it. 

The case will be reviewed by the county prosecutor. 

Sheriff Welsh did not release the names of the four on administrative leave. He said the four included three that were in uniform that night and "a fourth officer that was not on duty.“ The sheriff declined to explain why the fourth was on leave, other than to confirm it is related to this incident.

Michigan State Police detectives from Brighton and Monroe as well as the state police’s forensic science laboratory in Lansing responded to the scene.