OTTO TOWNSHIP — The device strapped to the Oceana County man who was shot and killed by police during a standoff near the Oceana-Muskegon county line Saturday evening, May 25, has been determined to be fake, according the Michigan State Police
“After extensive efforts by the MSP Bomb Squad to render the device safe, it was discovered to be a hoax device,” states the Michigan State Police in an X (formerly Twitter) post. “The incident remains under investigation.”
Troopers from the Hart and Grand Rapids posts, the MSP Bomb Squad and MSP Emergency Support Team responded to the scene on the side of the road where the man said he had a bomb strapped to him. “Troopers observed an unknown device with wires attached to it on the person,” stated MSP.
Troopers were dispatched to a residence in the 2000 block of Skeels Road earlier in the day for a man that was “acting erratically.”
“The individual had left the residence and was later located walking near Skeels and Nichols Roads. When he saw the troopers, he ran into the woods and came back out carrying a wired device and made the statement that he was going to kill everybody. Troopers contained the individual on the side of the roadway and requested additional units from the MSP Grand Rapids Post, MSP Bomb Squad and the Emergency Support Team. Residents in the area were immediately evacuated for safety.
“ES (Emergency Support) Team negotiators attempted to negotiate with the man for several hours. During the negotiations, there was a perceived threat from him at which point a shot was fired by an ES Team member that struck the man.”
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