ROSEVILLE, Mich. (WXYZ) — Officers shot a man in Roseville on Monday morning after he rammed his Pontiac G5 into a patrol SUV with a police officer inside and then exited holding a knife, officials say.
Watch Randy Wimbley's video report:
Watch footage from the scene after the shooting
The Roseville police station is still taped off after a chaotic scene on Monday morning. The suspect is still hospitalized, and the officer he's accused of ramming with his car is recovering back at home.
The incident happened on VFW Memorial Drive, just outside the police station.
"It was rapid ... it was everywhere," said Diamond Greene, who lives near the police station.
Greene recounted the flurry of gunfire that erupted right behind her home.
Investigators say a 36-year-old Roseville man rammed an officer in a marked SUV in front of the police station — and the suspect then got out with a knife in hand.
According to the Macomb County Sheriff's Office, two nearby officers ordered the man to drop the weapon, but investigators say he refused and continued approaching officers.
"Everybody was screaming, 'Get on the ground, get on the ground,' and the next thing you know, it was a whole bunch of gunfire, everywhere. It was just loud. I just thought it was going to come through the windows," said Greene.
See video from Chopper 7 over the scene in the video below
The suspect was struck and rushed to a hospital; we're told his condition is currently stable.
We spotted detectives from the Macomb County Sheriff's Office removing items from the suspect's home. His family declined to comment.
Monday's turn of events left the suspect's neighbors stunned
"Really nothing that I could have predicted that something like this could happen," said Debra Closurdo, the suspect's neighbor.
Another neighbor, Mo Pendelton, said "We gotta do better. That's all I can say right now is we gotta do better."
Investigators say the incident happened as officers were heading to their vehicles to respond to a call around 4:39 a.m.
We caught up with Steve Dolunt, a retired Detroit deputy police chief who's investigated similar cases, to share his insight on the Roseville shooting.
"It sounds like a suicide by cop. It's 5 o'clock, 4:30 in the morning. So it's either he has mental illness, a beef with the police, suicide by cop and my question as we discussed: did he call it in himself, this police run the officers are responding to, knowing the officers would come out of the headquarters, and he could try to take them out. Plus, he had a knife," said Dolunt.
We're told the suspect is expected to be charged in the coming days. The investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
