Royal Oak Police Defuse Barricaded Gunman Situation

ROYAL OAK, MI — A barricaded gunman situation in Royal Oak has ended peacefully, according to police.

A suicidal man was involved in a standoff with police at a business on Fernlee, near 14 Mile and Coolidge, police said Tuesday.

Police said when they encountered the man he said he was armed with a rifle and wanted to kill himself in a shootout with police. He kept exiting the building with the weapon, police said.

Officers responded and set up a perimeter while negotiating with him over the phone. Officers from Troy, Clawson, Madison Heights, Berkley, and Birmingham were on scene to help with the perimeter.

"Although he never pointed the rifle directly at anyone, he did try to provoke officers into shooting him by attempting to walk up on officers and quickly reaching for the weapon," Royal Oak Police said about the situation. "At one point he approached a perimeter officer and forced him into an area where the officer had nowhere to retreat, all the while holding the rifle at his side and motioning like he was about to level it at the officer. At this point other officers distracted him, and he turned his attention to them."

Police said that eventually the subject returned to the business and the Oakland County SWAT officers arrived and took over the inner perimeter.

Just before 5 a.m., rubber bullets were used to temporarily disable the man, police said. He was then taken into custody and transported to the hospital for minor injuries and a mental health evaluation.

“The officers on scene utilized excellent teamwork and showed tremendous restraint while continuing to attempt to deescalate the situation," Chief Corrigan O’Donohue said. "This individual stated several times he wanted to shoot it out with police. I can’t emphasize enough what a great job our officers did tonight, particularly the level of restraint they exercised in this incident.”