random shootings in SE Michigan... be on the lookout

nthfinity · Oct 20, 2012

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2012/10/19/michigan-shootings/1645119/

9:06PM EDT October 19. 2012 - DETROIT -- A shooter who authorities say is randomly targeting people in southern Michigan including drivers on busy roadways has residents on edge and police scrambling to form a task force to catch the person before someone is killed or injured.

At least 15 shootings in Oakland, Livingston and Ingham counties between Tuesday and Thursday are believed to be connected.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said police have not found a pattern.

"It's only been under the last 24 hours that it became clear the scope of this thing," Bouchard said at a news conference Friday. "We're taking this extremely serious for a lot of reasons."

Police are looking for a dark, older model Chevrolet Cavalier or Ford Mustang.

The shootings started in Wixom, just west of Detroit, at about 7 p.m. EDT Tuesday and then moved west through Livingston and Ingham counties along Interstate 96.

No one has been injured, but police described several "very close calls," including a man in Wixom who was almost shot while taking his trash out. In another incident, a bullet lodged in a car as a motorist was driving.

At least 15, and possibly 16, incidents have been reported during that time, with the most recent at 6:40 p.m. Thursday.

Livingston County Sheriff Bob Bezotte said the incident there occurred around 2:40 p.m. Thursday as a 24-year-old Genesee County man was traveling westbound on I-96 . Bezotte said the man's vehicle was struck in the rear driver's side door by "a projectile" that authorities believe came from a semi-automatic handgun.

In Ingham County, five cars were shot at and one struck around 6:30 p.m. Thursday, according to the county Sheriff's Office.

Witnesses said the gunman was shooting as he was driving, Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth said.

The crimes have residents on edge.

"You can't have somebody out there taking potshots at people," said Ed Sienkiewicz, who sits on the Village Council of Wolverine Lake, which borders Wixom.

"This has to stop, or we're going to see a fatality," he said. "Either we've all been very lucky because he's not a very good shot, or he is intentionally trying not to hit somebody, but we've got to take him off the streets."

Officials said the Oakland County crime lab is analyzing ballistics evidence.

Bouchard said sheriff's deputies in all three counties, along with two Michigan State Police posts, are working overtime on the case. Investigators also are using helicopter surveillance to try to spot trouble from the sky.

Bouchard said people should be vigilant but not panic. "What we're asking for is a much higher awareness," he said.

Bouchard said he fears the shootings could escalate into the kind of crime spree that terrorized Washington, D.C., and its Virginia and Maryland suburbs in October 2002. During a three-week span, 10 residents were killed and three were seriously injured in random sniper shootings. Two men were eventually arrested and convicted.

Bouchard, though, stopped short of calling the current shooter a sniper, noting the term implies a skilled gunman.
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fpb · Oct 20, 2012

Thanks for the heads up. I've been doing a lot of driving in that area lately (and obviously haven't watched the local news).

nthfinity · Oct 29, 2012

http://annarbor.com/news/another-i-96-freeway-shooting-reporting-monday-state-police-take-driver-into-custody-north-of-ann-ar/

vincep99 · Oct 29, 2012

Let's hope they they caught him. Need to be sure the forensics match up.

nthfinity · Oct 29, 2012

vincep99 said: ↑

Let's hope they they caught him. Need to be sure the forensics match up.
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Reports aren't so sure... maybe some other bad guy was caught in the search, but not the shooter...

nthfinity · Nov 6, 2012

http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20121106/NEWS01/121106001/Man-taken-questioning-connection-roadway-shootings?odyssey=mod|breaking|text|Frontpage

Police took a Wixom man in for questioning Monday night in connection to the Interstate 96 corridor shootings in which one man was injured.

Sheriff Bob Bezotte confirmed this morning that the man was questioned, but he would not say if the man was a suspect. He also confirmed that task members and the FBI were in the neighborhood of Loon Lake Road off Wixom Road Monday night where they watched a home and towed a dark grey car.

Bezotte said investigators spoke with people in the home and took items from the home. He declined to say what those items were and to identify the people.

The task force is expected to meet this morning to discuss developments.

Members of the multi-jurisdictional task force investigating the 24 shootings three of which occurred on I-96 in Livingston County while the rest occurred along trunk lines and side streets in Oakland, Ingham and Shiawassee counties have received upwards of 2,800 tips.

The incidences began Oct. 16 in the Wixom area.
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Hope they got their man!

vincep99 · Nov 6, 2012

nthfinity said: ↑

http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20121106/NEWS01/121106001/Man-taken-questioning-connection-roadway-shootings?odyssey=mod|breaking|text|Frontpage

Hope they got their man!
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I hope so too. I saw a Channel 7 News truck at the Wixom Road Marathon station at 6 AM this morning. I guess they were doing a follow up.

Not to make light of a serious subject but Loon Lake Road is only ~ 2 miles of where they were looking for Hoffa a few years back.

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random shootings in SE Michigan... be on the lookout

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