WIXOM, Mich. – Police who arrested a suspect in a Michigan shooting spree that targeted moving cars and resulted in at least one injury were led to the man’s home based on one of thousands of tips, authorities said Tuesday.
The suspect was taken into custody Monday night in Wixom, the Detroit suburb where the shootings began, according to a police task force investigating the four-county spree.
“Why did he do it? I don’t know. I don’t know if we’ll ever know,” said Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth, who called the attacks “domestic terrorism.”
He said a tip — one of close to 3,000 that have come in — led authorities to the man’s home. The task force said in a written statement that the man drove a vehicle that matched the description of the suspect’s car provided by a shooting victim. Authorities also seized potential evidence at his home.
At least one gun was seized, said Donald Dawkins, Detroit spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The man had not been charged by Tuesday afternoon, and it was not clear when charges might be filed. Local and federal authorities were discussing whether the case should be pursued in state or federal court.
Wriggelsworth swanted federal prosecutors to take the case.
A man who answered the door Tuesday at the home where police discovered the suspect declined to comment and told an Associated Press reporter to leave. Loon Lake Elementary School is a quarter-mile away from that home.
The shootings began Oct. 16 and stretched from Oakland County west to Ingham County. The targets in the 24 reported incidents were mostly cars traveling on roads near Interstate 96. Only a few shootings actually occurred on the interstate.
Before the arrest, clues appeared to be few: slugs and bullet fragments embedded in cars, metal casings on roadways, a simple black-and-white sketch of the shooter — a man believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s — and vague descriptions of the dark car he drove.
Police say the shooter would drive along roadways and fire at vehicles traveling in the opposite direction. Only one person was wounded.
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