Grand Rapids police bodycam video shows suspect fire at officers first in shootout

Body camera video shows two officers run after a suspect, spot his gun and shout at him to drop it before a shootout on Saturday night.

The suspect remained on the loose Monday, Grand Rapids Police Department Chief Eric Winstrom said at the start of an afternoon news conference at police headquarters downtown. He urged anyone with information to come forward to Michigan State Police, which is handling the investigation, or Silent Observer.

The shootout started during a traffic stop on S. Division Avenue near Crofton Street at 11:44 p.m. Saturday. Dashboard camera video shows a police cruiser pulling over a car with no license plate.

“I do not know at this point in time, because it’s not my investigation, what the probable cause was for the traffic stop, but as you’ll see from the in-car camera video, there is no license plate on the vehicle so that would be probable cause and certainly a traffic violation and cause for a stop,” Winstrom said.

As soon as the car pulled over, the video shows, a passenger got out of the back of the car on the driver’s side of the vehicle and ran away. Two officers jumped out of the cruiser and ran after him.

“Stop, stop, put your (expletive) hands up!” shouted the officer who had been driving.

“He’s got a gun,” said his partner.

The man ran eastbound into an alley and between houses. Two officers chased him to Horton Avenue near Burton Street.

“Drop it! Drop that (expletive) gun, drop the gun! He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun. Drop it, dude!” the first officer can be heard yelling in bodycam video as he changed the suspect down an alley.

Gunshots can then be heard.

GRPD showed still images from the bodycam video and pointed out an object in the suspect’s right hand. Police said the man had a semi-automatic handgun that he used to fire multiple rounds at the officers, who were not hit. They returned fire.

“From our trained point of view — you can watch it, you can slow it down — you can tell immediately that it’s the individual, the subject who fires first, probably three times, the officers return fire possibly about eight times,” Winstrom said.

He said one or more houses were hit by gunfire, but it’s not clear by whose bullets. There were no injuries.

“When that shooting happened, (the officers) stopped. And they stopped because now they know the individual is attempting to murder them,” Winstrom said. “Those two officers, they followed their training, they stopped there.”

Police then set up a perimeter and used drones and K-9s to try to find the suspect. MSP detectives went door-to-door in the neighborhood asking people for information and surveillance video.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out,” Winstrom said. “How he got away is something that, I’m sure we’ll learn eventually.”