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2 dead after chaotic police standoff with barricaded gunman in Harper Woods

Suspect's mother is in serious condition after being allegedly stabbed by son
Posted at 5:51 PM, Jul 11, 2022
and last updated 2022-07-11 17:52:58-04

HARPER WOODS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Two people are dead and another individual is hospitalized after a chaotic standoff in Harper Woods Sunday night.

The incident unfolded around 8 p.m. when the police responded to a domestic violence call on Kenosha Street near Sanilac Street.

Upon arrival, the scene quickly turned into a barricaded gunman situation.

The suspect, believed to be in his early 20s, allegedly killed his father and girlfriend as well as stabbed his mother in the back. His mother is in a serious condition.

Neighbors say they are shocked to see something like this happen in their peaceful neighborhood.

"It was just weird, I don’t know, so many mixed emotions. It was just tragic," Dorea Bell, a neighbor, said.

Bell watched as her street was flooded with law enforcement officers. The SWAT team arrived on the scene and and police eventually fired tear gas into the house to flush the suspect out.

Footage shared by Bell shows the suspect crawling out and surrendering after setting the house on fire.

"I thought he was a nice guy. He didn’t smoke, he went to work every day, came home, cutting the grass, I thought he was a pretty outstanding guy," Bell said.

Before police arrived, the mother of the suspect stumbled across the street at Ruth Tabone’s home holding the suspect’s baby, pleading for help.

"I noticed there was a knife in her back, and when I asked her, 'Who did this?,' eventually she was able to tell me her son did it and he was stabbing everyone in the house," Tabone said.

Ruth called 911 and later on, the 1-and-a-half-year-old boy was handed over to Bell.

"Really crying, profusely. It was hard for me to calm him down. His mom was lying out here, his grandfather was lying out here," Bell recalled.

As the police examined the crime scene, the bodies were placed outside Bell's home. The moment was captured on her ring camera.

But now, Bell's biggest concern is what will happen to the baby?

"I don’t know who is going to get him because they said earlier in the night that someone from the family is going to pick him up, but no one ever came," Bell said.

According to Bell, the baby was taken by Emergency Medical Services. The current location of the boy is unknown and it’s also not clear what happened inside the house that led to this tragedy.

Harper woods Police Department say they will be releasing an official statement soon.