Barricaded man with machete in mental crisis surrenders to Detroit police
DETROIT (FOX 2) - A barricaded man with a machete surrendered to Detroit police after an afternoon standoff with police Friday.
Police say the suspect was suffering a mental health crisis - had been threatening his mother inside a home on the 17300 block of Indiana Street on the city's northwest side near the Lodge freeway.
Detroit Police Chief James White said that the mother escaped from the house when police arrived. The man told officers he wanted to die and wanted to kill a police officer after
"(Officers) encountered our suspect, who has a diagnosed significant mental health condition, who has been hospitalized multiple times before," White said. "He is armed with a machete. He opens the door, he indicates that he wants to die, and he wants to kill a police officer. He produces that machete on our two officers. The officers made the appropriate decision by retreating, declaring a barricaded gunman and notifying a special response team."
The crisis intervention team was able to negotiate with the man to drop the machete and eventually go into custody.
The suspect's mother, LaTonya Hill, spoke to FOX 2 praising DPD's response and was grateful for the way they handled the situation, taking her son into custody peacefully.
"The Detroit Police Department was very kind and patient," she said. "They didn't want to harm my son, they wanted to get him out safely so he could get some help and get his medication. They constantly kept reassuring me they weren't aggressive with me, they spoke in a calm voice. I was very impressed with the Crisis Intervention Team.:
Chief White said that DPD got the best potential outcome and spoke about the mental health crisis.
"We can't turn our back on our community and not handle this crisis. But it is not the ideal situation for the police to have to deal with a mental health crisis," White said. "The ideal circumstance would be that there's a long-term treatment facility for folks who can get the help that they need.
"Now, unfortunately, this gentleman who's in crisis with his diagnosis, he can't, you know, he doesn't know why he's doing it. I mean, he's got a mental health condition. It's not like he's making the decision to do it on his own. But the fact that he's armed with a weapon is threatening his family, is threatening the police, and he's threatening himself. This could have ended very differently."