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| Photo Credit: AP. |
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — A man accused of fatally shooting a hotel clerk in suburban Detroit during a dispute over money then barricading himself inside a room has surrendered to police, authorities said.
The gunman’s
surrender at the Hampton Inn in Dearborn occurred shortly before 9 p.m. EDT
Thursday, or nearly seven hours after the standoff began. Businesses in the
surrounding popular dining and shopping area had been evacuated or locked down.
The man was
“armed with a rifle, many times threatened officers, and it was quite tenuous,”
Dearborn police Chief Issa Shahin told reporters. “But fortunately, we were
able to resolve that peacefully.”
The shooting
stemmed from a dispute over money with staff, Shahin said. The man who was
shot, identified as a 55-year-old from Riverview, was taken to a hospital and
died, Shahin said.
He was “just
trying to do his job,” Shahin said.
Shahin said
the suspect, who was not identified by police Thursday, had a history of mental
illness and substance abuse.
Shots were
reported shortly after 1 p.m. in the busy district in Dearborn, a city of over
100,000 people just west and southwest of Detroit. The suspect was contained in
the hotel, police Cpl. Dan Bartok told reporters.
Police
evacuated the hotel and surrounding businesses. Traffic into the downtown was
blocked, Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said.
Earlier,
state police tweeted that the “situation is active and dangerous” and that
shots still “were being fired by the suspect.”
Officers in
tactical gear could be seen, as well as emergency vehicles.
Some
businesses near the hotel, including Dearborn Federal Savings Bank and Better
Health Market, locked down with customers inside.
“There are
police everywhere,” said Cheryl Seguin, a security officer at the bank. “Police
from multiple jurisdictions and federal, county, state agencies. Multiple
police cars and other types of units -- EMS, just about everything.”
Patrick
Collins, manager of the Better Health Market, described seeing police,
automatic weapons and ambulances. Three customers were inside the market.
“There’s a
lot going on,” he said.
Savage
reported from Chicago. Williams reported from West Bloomfield, Michigan.