Man fired 2 shots before being shot, killed by KDPS officer

The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety says an officer shot and killed a man Sunday after he fired at least two shots, including one at officers.

KDPS Chief Vernon Coakley on Monday identified the man killed as Nicholas Conklin, 33, of Battle Creek.

Coakley said officers were called to a house split up into apartments on S. Westnedge Avenue near Minor Avenue at 10:14 a.m. Sunday.

They had gotten a tip that Conklin was there, that he was driving a pickup truck stolen out of Van Buren County and that he was armed. Coakley said Conklin was wanted on five outstanding arrest warrants, though he didn’t say exactly what for, and added that he was a suspect in a recent hit-and-run in Kalamazoo County.

Around 10:29 a.m., Coakley said, officers were invited into the common area of the house and knocked on the door of the second-floor apartment where they were told Conklin was.

At 10:33 a.m., officers outside said they saw Conklin cutting out the window screen to try to escape, but he went back inside when he saw the officers. The officers also saw a woman in the apartment with him. Speaking to the officers in the house through the closed door, Coakley said, she said that Conklin wasn’t there.

“Nick Conklin, the house is surrounded. We know you’re inside,” an officer can be heard saying in body camera video, telling Conklin to talk to him. “We’re not going anywhere.”

At 10:39 a.m., the three officers in the house heard a gunshot and the woman screamed. The officers reported shots fired and one of them tried to kick down the door to the apartment, but he couldn’t get through.

The video shows a second shot was fired; Coakley said it was directed toward the officers. The video shows two officers quickly retreated down the stairs, one of them falling.

Coakley said Conklin came out of the apartment with a gun and moved toward the retreating officers. A third officer, still on the second floor, opened fire. Coakley said that officer fired “multiple” times at Conklin, “stopping his advancement toward the officers on the stairwell.” In the body camera video, eight shots can be heard.

The exchange of gunfire lasted less than a minute, Coakley said.

Once Conklin was down, officers started first aid, Coakley said, but Conklin died around 11:17 a.m.

The woman who had been in the apartment with him was not hurt. No officers were injured.

At a press conference Monday, KDPS showed body camera video clips from the two officers who did not fire shots. That video did not show Conklin being shot, though the sound of gunfire was audible. Coakley said the bodycam video from the officer who fired shots is with Michigan State Police.

MSP is investigating the shooting and the officer who fired shots is on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure whenever an officer uses deadly force. The county prosecutor will decide whether the use of force was justified. KDPS will also conduct an internal investigation; that’s standard procedure, too.

Online Michigan Department of Corrections records show Conklin had absconded from probation. He had previous convictions for receiving a stolen car, fleeing police and operating a meth lab.
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