Dog Robbery Leads to Shots Fired, Police Pursuit

Montcalm County, Michigan – According to Michigan State Police, a man from Illinois drove out to a rural home in Montcalm County to purchase a dog at around 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

But at some point during the transaction, an argument occurred.

“A 32-year-old man from Illinois came to the residence to purchase a dog,” police said. “An argument took place and the Illinois man fired several shots at the homeowner. The homeowner retrieved a rifle and fired back at the suspect.”

The suspect turned and ran from the home and jumped into a black 300 Chrysler taking the dog with him as he fled and drove away at a high rate of speed.

Responding officers located the Chrysler on South Blackmer Rd. and attempted to make a stop but the suspect refused to pull over and drove onto M-57, towards Greenville.

Attempting to lose police, the suspect swerved his car into oncoming traffic several times but was unable to elude police. Finally, the suspect crashed his car and was quickly apprehended by law enforcement.

The stolen dog was recovered and returned to its owner unharmed. Michigan State Police are asking anyone who the suspect swerved at during the pursuit, to contact the Lakeview Post at (989) 352-8444 to give their statement to investigators.

Selling products online can be risky business since you never know who is going to answer the ad. Some city governments provide locations for online transactions to take place hoping to reduce the number of deaths from robberies.

If there are none in your area, pick, or agree to a well populated and well-lit place, and decline if the buyer/seller tries to change the meeting location last second. This is often a clue something might be wrong. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

Read here for how to effectively use cover to protect from being shot during a self-defense encounter with the Fighting from Cover training series.