GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A gunman opened fire in two Michigan homes Thursday, killing seven people before leading police on a high-speed chase through downtown Grand Rapids and later taking three hostages in a standoff that ended when he committed suicide, authorities said.
The hostages were unharmed, said Police Chief Kevin Belk.
The standoff began after dozens of officers with guns drawn had cordoned off a neighborhood near a small lake in the northern part of the city and shut down nearby Interstate 96. With the man surrounded, state police warned some residents to stay in their homes and evacuated others.
Authorities did not have a motive for the suspect, 34-year-old Rodrick Shonte Dantzler, but police said Dantzler’s daughter and an ex-girlfriend were among the seven people killed. However, it had been some time since he had any sort of relationship with his ex-girlfriend, police said.
The manhunt for Dantzler began after four people were found dead in one home and three were found in another across town. Two of the dead were children.
The names of the victims were not immediately released. Autopsies were scheduled for today.
“We believe there were prior relationships with at least one person at each location, so we think there were some difficulties there,” Belk said.
Records show Dantzler was released from state prison in 2005 after serving time for assault less than murder. A spokesman for the prison system said he had not been under state supervision since then.
Belk said officers communicated with Dantzler, who released one of three hostages, a 53-year-old woman.
At one point during the police chase, the suspect crossed a wide grassy median on the interstate and drove the wrong way down the highway while more than a dozen squad cars pursued him. The highway remained closed hours later.
Two other people were shot when the suspect fired at police during the chase, but their wounds were not life-threatening. Some of the gunshots struck the windshield of a police cruiser in downtown Grand Rapids. No officers were wounded, Belk said.
Sandra Powney lives across the street from one of the homes where the shootings happened and said she had seen Dantzler at the ranch house, where a couple has lived for more than 20 years with two adult daughters.
Powney said she had been at home all day and did not realize anyone had been killed until police converged on the cul-de-sac in the middle of the afternoon.
“For a while, we couldn’t come outside,” she said. “They didn’t know if there was someone still inside the house.”
Neighbors said police converged on Dantzler’s home after the shootings a few miles away.
Sonia Bergers said Dantzler lived in the home with a woman she assumed was his wife and their daughter, a girl who appeared to be about 10 years old.
