PORTAGE, Mich. – A man stabs a woman in the face, leading to a confrontation with police that ended with an officer opening fire.
Tuesday night, a line of police tape remained around a bike path behind the Crossroads Village Senior Apartment Complex.
It’s the same spot where one witness, John Farrer, said he saw an officer and the stabbing suspect get into a fight before the shooting took place.
“He had his right arm outstretched with his left hand on his wrist, just like you’d see when anyone was taking aim at someone,” said Farrer.
Farrer describes when he saw from his back porch moments before a plain clothes officer shot a man wanted for stabbing a woman.
It started when Farrer saw a man wearing a stocking hat walk off a bike trail towards the apartment complex.
“He just was walking like any normal person would,” he said. “The cop got out of his car and he motioned for him to come over, the waived and said, OK. He came over and then more or less got into a confrontation.”
Officers were in the area looking for a man wanted in connection to a stabbing that happened minutes prior, just a short distance away.
A woman was found by police with cuts to her face in the car at the corner of Romence Street and Constitution Ave.
Farrer didn’t know any of this at the time, until he called police.
“They told me, they said that is one of our undercover detectives,” he said.
Farrer said the officer drew his gun and then the officer and suspect walked out of his view. The witness said he was still on the phone with 911 when back-up arrived.
“The next thing I know the Portage police are pulling in, the fire department is there, an ambulance is there, by that time he had already shot the guy,” said Farrer.
The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave which is standard operating procedure in this type of incident.
“To stop the threat the officer had to fire his service weapon,” said Portage Public Safety Senior Deputy Daniel Mills. “The suspect was shot and his condition is unknown at this time.”
Both the woman stabbed and suspect that was shot were hospitalized. Their names and conditions are not being released though investigators did say the two know each other.
Late Tuesday night, Michigan State Police say the stabbing suspect was released from the hospital and taken to jail. He is expected to appear in court on Wednesday.
Police were on the scene for nearly five hours conducting the investigation which will be handled by Michigan State Police.
