Police kill suspect in Marriott hotel shooting that left one dead, one injured

Southfield — A jealous man with a rifle killed his ex-girlfriend and critically wounded her new boyfriend Monday morning as they walked out of a Southfield hotel before city police officers caught up with the suspect three hours later on a Detroit service drive and fatally shot him while he reached for his weapon, police officials said.

The 49-year-old suspect had tracked the victims to the Detroit Marriott Southfield on Northwestern Highway and waited in the parking lot for hours, opening fire as they exited the facility at about 9:24 a.m., Southfield police Chief Elvin Barren said.

After killing the 41-year-old mother of their two children, the suspect picked the children up at school, gave them money and said good-bye, Barren said. The man dropped off the children at a friend's house in Detroit near the Lodge Freeway and Seven Mile Road, where Southfield police tracked him down, pulled him over, and shot him as he reached for his rifle, Barren said.

The second victim who was shot outside the Southfield hotel, also 41, was listed in critical condition Monday after suffering multiple gunshot wounds, Barren said. Both victims were from Detroit. The suspect died after being taken to a hospital, Barren said.

Barren said he was withholding the names of the suspect and both victims until their families could be notified.

After the shooting in the hotel parking lot, the suspect fled to his home in Warren, Barren said. Warren police set up a perimeter outside his house and eventually entered it with their SWAT team, but did not find the suspect at home, Barren said.

Police learned that the suspect had switched vehicles, and were on the lookout for a black Camaro, Barren said. At some point, the man picked up his children at school and dropped them off at a friend's house on Detroit's west side. About three hours after the shooting, police spotted the suspect on the southbound Lodge Freeway near Seven Mile, and ordered him to pull over. He stopped on a service drive, Barren said.

"The Southfield Tactical Crime Suppression Unit initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle," a Southfield Police release said. "As officers approached the vehicle, the suspect and lone occupant began reaching for an assault rifle type weapon. At this time, officers fired multiple rounds striking the suspect."

The Homicide Task Force, made up of Michigan State Police and Detroit police detectives, are investigating the shooting, MSP's Second District tweeted Monday.

"MSP detectives will be leading the investigation and once complete it will go to the (Wayne County) prosecutor," the tweet said.

Barren said normal protocol was followed and that the officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

ghunter@detroitnews.com

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Twitter: @GeorgeHunter_DN