Victim: Isabella County shooting, suicide followed minor dispute

A woman who was shot by her husband before he turned the gun on himself told police the two had a low-key argument the day of the attempted murder and suicide and that her husband may have been drinking.

Janice Hatt, 66, of Rolland Township, is recovering in a hospital since the March 14 shooting and was able to speak to police Friday, according to a press release from Isabella county Sheriff Michael Main.

That day Janice and Bradford Hatt, 68, had a disagreement that “was not physical or even very elevated in nature” according to the release.

At some point Janice Hatt walked away from her husband when she heard gunshots and was struck in the back and torso area.

Bradford Hatt immediately expressed remorse for the shooting and called 911 to get his wife help before turning the gun on himself and ending his own life, Janice Hatt told investigators.

“Janice could not understand or offer any reason why her husband escalated to such a deadly encounter,” Main wrote in the media release.

She indicated that her husband may have been drinking that day.

Investigators are waiting for autopsy and toxicology reports and expect to close the case once those are received, Main said.

Janice Hatt has undergone several surgeries since she was airlifted to a Grand Rapids hospital after the attack last week, and Main said her condition is improving.

First responders were called to the home in the 10000 block of Brinton Road March 14 after Bradford Hatt called 911 shortly after 5 p.m. to report he had shot his wife and that she might still be alive, before shooting and killing himself while still on the phone with dispatchers.

Related: Couple identified in attempted murder and suicide

Police set a perimeter around the home and first confirmed that Bradford Hatt was dead before entering and finding Janice Hatt in a bedroom, gravely injured from multiple handgun blasts.

Before Friday’s conversation with Janice Hatt, interviews with family, friends and neighbors had yielded no clues as to what may have caused the attempted murder and suicide.

“Only thing we have heard from neighbors/friends is that they had been in public a few days prior and everything was normal with them and between them,” Main said earlier this week.

The only emergency response calls to the address in recent times have been medical in nature and no criminal issues were discovered, Main said last week.

Related: As victim recovers, shooting remains a mystery