DEARBORN HEIGHTS (WWJ) A landlord tenant dispute led to a shooting in Dearborn Heights, police said.
Police said the landlord went to conduct business with tenants at a home on Arnold, in the area of Joy and Beech Daly, on Friday, January 3rd, around 10 a.m.
Four people—a man in his 70s, his wife, and their two adult sons in their 30s— were home at the time. The wife was not involved in the altercation, according to police.
The four men got into a verbal dispute.
“It escalates, they come out into the front yard, there’s some pushing and shoving,” Paul Vanderplow, Director of Support Services for Dearborn Heights Police, told WWJ.
The landlord went to his truck. Upon his return, he had a gun on his person— although Vanderplow said it’s unclear if he already had the weapon on him or if he retrieved it at the truck.
“(The landlord) is not directly threatening (the father),” Vanderplow said.
While they engaged in more physical fighting, the gun discharged and shot the father in the leg.
“They keep arguing,” Vanderplow said.
According to Vanderplow; the landlord called 911. Police arrested him and rendered first aid to the victim. The victim was taken to the hospital, treated and is “going to recover.”
The Wayne County Prosecutors Office is reviewing charges against the landlord—who’s believed to be in his 30s.
“You're in an argument, you introduce a firearm, the bad thing happens....now you got real consequences to deal with,” Vanderplow said.
Vanderplow added— if you worry a situation might get heated, or even violent--don’t try to take matters into your own hands.
"The police department is here to serve,” he said. “If someone thinks they're going to get into some type of dispute with a landlord, tenant...we would have come out and mediated. It would have avoided all of this."