WAYNE (WWJ) — Michigan State Police officials are investigating after a police officer shot and killed a man experiencing a mental health crisis in Wayne on Tuesday afternoon.
The shooting happened shortly before 3 p.m. in the area of Michigan Avenue and Wayne Road in Wayne. Officials with the Wayne Police Department said they got a call from a 40-yearyold suicidal man who said that he had cut himself all over his body and was trying to kill himself.
The man was also caring for his 4-year-old child that was also inside the apartment. He told the 911 operator that he was schizophrenic and off his medication, according to Wayne police officials.
When officers showed up they encountered the man at the doorway of his apartment and saw that he "was visibly bleeding from self inflicted wounds and still armed with the knife."
Officials said the man "failed to respond to several verbal commands," so officers attempted two "less than lethal taser deployments" that did not work.
That's when the man allegedly "charged toward the officers," and one officer fired his duty weapon an unknown number of times to stop the man, according to the department.
The child, who was unharmed, was removed from the apartment by officers and later turned over to his mother.
Wayne Fire Rescue personnel, who were already staged outside the apartment building, quickly ran inside after the shooting and rendered aid, officials said. But the man succumbed to injuries and died on scene. The officers were not injured during this incident.
The Wayne Police Department requested the MSP Second District’s Special Investigation Section to investigate the officer-involved shooting.
The man's name has not been released.
MSP officials have not provided any details from their end of the investigation.
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