Man fatally shot in officer-involved shooting in Toledo identified
Jul. 19—Toledo police have identified Michael Clifton as the shooting suspect allegedly involved in an earlier incident in Monroe, Mich. who was fatally shot in an officer-involved shooting Monday morning in Toledo.
Mr. Clifton, 50, of the 500 block of Custer Drive, was pronounced dead at the scene after 1 a.m. in the parking lot near Monroe Carryout in the 2800 block of Monroe Street, according to a news release.
Two Toledo police officers fired at Mr. Clifton after failed negotiations with him, following a several-block foot pursuit from near Virginia Street and Scottwood Avenue, where he had crashed his car after leading Toledo police on a vehicle chase from near Detroit and Phillips avenues, according to police. While Mr. Clifton ran from the officers, he held a gun to his head, police said.
"Eventually negotiations failed and the suspect's actions forced [the] officers to fire," the report said.
The area near Detroit and Phillips was where Toledo police joined several area law-enforcement agencies "in a vehicle pursuit involving a shooting suspect originating in Monroe, Michigan" after the pursuit entered Toledo about 1 a.m. via southbound I-75, according to police.
Toledo police said the suspect fired "at least one" gunshot sometime prior to that near the Mall of Monroe shopping mall in the 2100 block of North Monroe Street in Monroe.
The pursuit continued in Toledo for about three minutes until the pursued vehicle crashed near Virginia and Scottwood.
"Mr. Clifton exited the vehicle with a handgun to his head and began walking down Scottwood towards W. Bancroft," according to police. As he continued walking, an incident negotiator team was called to the scene, police said.
A negotiator then spoke with the suspect, "who still had the gun to his head," attempting to de-escalate the situation, during which time a Michigan State Police trooper "unsuccessfully deployed a taser at Mr. Clifton in an attempt to incapacitate him," the report said.
"A few minutes later, while negotiations were still being attempted, Mr. Clifton made verbal and hand motions indicating that he was going to point the gun at officers," police said in the report.
"Mr. Clifton began saying 'Tick Tock' multiple times then put the gun back to his head. Mr. Clifton then brought the handgun down into a shooting stance and began to raise it towards officers," at which time "multiple officers" from the Toledo police department and Michigan State Police shot him, Toledo police said.
The Toledo police officers who fired their weapons in the incident will be placed on paid administrative leave, according to the news release.
Toledo Police Chief George Kral was not immediately available for comment.
A young woman who answered the door late Monday morning at Mr. Clifton's Custer Drive address refused to talk to The Blade. So did two people at the Monroe Carryout counter a short time later.
First Published July 19, 2021, 7:08am
