Witness describes deadly shooting after Southgate police confront shoplifting suspect

SOUTHGATE, Mich. – A man, who was suspected of shoplifting, died on Saturday after he was shot by a Southgate police officer outside of a Meijer.

It happened steps away from the Fort Street Dream Cruise crowd.

The shooting happened in the parking lot of the Meijer right off Fort Street around 3:45 p.m. on Saturday.

A group of people was enjoying the start of the cruise and barbequing next to the parking lot when the area turned into a crime scene.

“We were barbequing and the next thing you know, the cops came up and somebody was shot,” a man who witnessed the shooting said.

He asked Local 4 not to share his name.

“It was pretty crazy,” he said. “It went by so quick, we didn’t even really know what was going on or why.”

Officers say they were called to the area around 3:45 p.m.

“Officers were dispatched to the Meijer regarding a retail fraud in progress, a shoplifting,” Southgate Police Chief Mark Mydlarz said.

Police arrived and confronted a man and a woman who they suspected were stealing from the Meijer.

“The male subject ended up pulling out a sharp instrument of some type. At which time, he engaged our officers and one of our officers fired at least one round striking the male subject,” Mydlarz said.

The man was taken to the hospital and died there.

Local 4 is told the officer was not injured and the woman who was with the man is in police custody.

“We had a lot of manpower in for that (the dream cruise),” Mydlarz said. “We are fortunate that because we had all this manpower in that we were able to quickly contain this and get the investigation going, but there is a lot going on, as you pointed out, and it’s taxing our officers no doubt.”

People in the area say they were surprised to hear what happened.

“Surprised, just shocked,” Tammy Foster, who was attending the cruise, said. “Especially a big parking lot with so many people.”

Michigan State Police are now investigating and, as is protocol in these situations, the officer involved is on administrative leave.