Police Arrest Suspect in Michigan Hospital Garage Shooting

Police report that they have a suspect in custody following a shooting Thursday morning at a parking garage for a Michigan hospital.

“Police were called shortly after 7 a.m. by hospital security for the shooting,” according to the Detroit Free Press. At the time of publication, law enforcement said that the incident involved two hospital employees who worked for Corewell Health Beaumont Troy Hospital. 

The police said the incident is a “targeted” shooting, which injured a 25-year-old man who was shot twice in the arm and also damaged his vehicle. Police said that “hospital security reported a handgun was fired five times at the victim,” the Associated Press reported. The injured employee is being treated at the hospital.

After conducting a search involving helicopters and K-9 units, local law enforcement announced at around 9:43 a.m. on social media that the suspect had been located and taken into custody.

The police have not yet released the identity of the suspected shooter or the victim. “Local television stations said the shooter was taken into custody from a house in Macomb Township,” The New York Times reported.

The hospital, which is in a northern suburb of Detroit, shifted into lockdown mode in response to the shooting. Since the apprehension, however, the hospital is in the process of returning to normal operations.

Other agencies assisted the Troy Police Department in response to the shooting, including personnel from the Michigan State Police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

“During the past five years, parking environments rank third-highest in locations where a violent offense occurred, according to the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer,” Security Management reported in January.

Whether a crime is opportunistic or planned, bad actors tend to pick parking areas because they tend to be dark, isolated, or can lack the surveillance or security that other facilities provide.

“It’s much easier to rob someone or to target someone in a parking garage because there’s just not enough people around,” Michael Haggard, attorney at the Haggard Law Firm, told Security Management in a previous interview.

For more on security and safety issues involving parking lots and garages, check out Security Management’s series here.