Troopers were serving a warrant at a Union Township home related to a Branch County cold case when the suspect opened fire before fleeing.
UNION TOWNSHIP — Michigan State Police Det. Sgt. Aaron Steensma was shot in the upper chest Wednesday morning while serving a search warrant at 595 Francisco Road in Union Township.
Sgt. Steensma was driven by a trooper toward Coldwater where he was met by a LifeCare ambulance and transported to ProMedica Coldwater Regional Hospital.
After he was stabilized, Steensma was flown by AirCare to Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo. He is in serious, but stable condition.
The second trooper, Daniel Thayer, was shot in the chest and hand.
The shot to his chest was stopped by his ballistic vest.
“Thanks to the quick action of troopers at the scene and the excellent medical attention he received from ProMedica Coldwater Regional Hospital, West Michigan Air Care and the trauma team at Borgess Medical Center, Det. Sgt. Steensma is doing remarkably well for the seriousness of his injury,” said Col. Kristie Etue, MSP director.
MSP Lt. Dale Hinz said state police were serving a search warrant on a cold case.
MSP has not released the name of the suspect who reportedly answered the door and pulled out a long gun, firing at the officers. Sgt. Steensma was hit in the left upper collar bone area just above his bullet proof vest.
The suspect fled the house, into a wooded area next to a field south of Francisco Road.
Branch County Sheriff deputies, additional MSP troopers, along with police from Battle Creek and Colon, converged on the area and sealed off a four square mile section around the home.
An MSP Emergency Response Team tank and helicopter where brought in. Officers spotted the suspect along a fence row.
The MSP helicopter flew the area circling for over an hour and did not see the suspect move.
Troopers then moved in and found him dead of a gunshot wound. MSP did not release whether it was self inflicted.
The FBI, who now investigates all police officer shootings, also responded to the crime scene.
Officers continued the investigation into Wednesday evening and were completing the original search subject to the warrant.
COLD CASE
There is only one cold case investigation currently underway in Branch County. In March 2017, after eight years, MSP announced it would open an investigation in the death of Duane Finney.
The body of the 62-year-old was found in the driver's seat of his 2006 white Pontiac Grand Prix in a field south of the Skate Ranch on South Angola Road on Tuesday May 12, 2009.
There was a bullet hole visible in the car window. Finney had been shot in the head.
The original investigation by the Branch County Sheriff Office had continued but there was no focus on the unsolved crime.
In announcing the new investigation Fifth District Det/Lt Chuck Christensen said "there were persons of interest" but the investigation would start over.
Det. Sgt. Steensma had been one of those, from the Marshall Post, working the case.