MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (WXYZ) - Gunshots rang out inside the ER at Mount Clemens Regional Medical Center Thursday when a prisoner who was receiving treatment tried to make a run for it.
Investigators say the inmate jumped off a gurney and tried to escape. Authorities say the 32-year-old Jamin William Totty from Chesterfield Township had been in Roseville earlier in the day for an arraignment on retail fraud.
On his way to the Macomb County Jail, he complained of some sort of medical issue and was brought to Mount Clemens Regional. The Roseville officer turned him over to a Macomb County deputy. It was later that the inmate tried to make his escape. Not knowing where to go, he was about to try and hide in a closet when he was confronted by the deputy. The prisoner grabbed a needle and reportedly planned to use it as a weapon.
Sheriff Mark Hackel says his deputy ordered the inmate to drop the instrument several times, but the inmate refused and was charging toward the veteran deputy.
"The officer ordered him to drop the item and to stay back, but the individual just kept coming at the officer," Hackel said. "It was at this time that the officer discharged his firearm."
The inmate was shot once in the chest. Doctors and nurses on site tried to save him, but he passed away.
