Detroit police shoot knife-wielding man • Man shoots coworker at Bloomfield Hills deli • Wolverine Watchmen
Family pleads for answers after son shot by Detroit police
A 20-year-old experiencing a 'mental crisis' had police called by family to assist the individual. According to a witness, the man had a knife that he refused to drop and instead charged at police after a taser was deployed. He was shot and killed.
MONDAY NEWS HIT - A 20-year-old man is dead and a family is pleading for answers after he was shot by Detroit police after allegedly charging at them with a knife.
Police said the man who was identified as Porter Burks of Detroit was experiencing a ‘mental episode’ when his family called for law enforcement help after saying he was armed with a knife.
But when police arrived at a residence in the area of Snowden and Lyndon on Detroit's west side, Burks charged at them after they tried to de-escalate the situation. Police responded by shooting and killing him.
Burks' brother Damondo Anderson said the family was trying to get his sibling mental treatment and discovering the 20-year-old with a knife and calling 911 on Saturday night and later Sunday morning.
"Just to send EMS out so that they could get him back to mental treatment, that’s all we just wanted him to get back to the mental treatment," said Anderson.
According to Detroit Police Chief James White, officers responded to an apartment in the Littlefield neighborhood around 5 a.m. for reports of a person with a knife who was experiencing some kind of mental crisis.
When police arrived, a witness told FOX 2 the officers had asked Burks to drop the knife. They eventually deployed a taser, but it failed to have an effect. The witness then charged at the officers, who shot and killed him.
It's unclear how many officers responded or how many shots were fired.
"That’s a pain you would never be able to heal; my sister is hurting. We are hurting. You know he had a mental health issue. You’ve dealt with him before. Why would you kill him," said Michelle Wilson, Porter's aunt.
RELATED: Detroit police investigating deadly officer-involved shooting Sunday morning
White said the department will be reviewing footage of the event and the incidents that led up to the deadly shooting.
"Got a policy - we're looking at who deployed the weapon, who deployed the taser, the body cameras, the witnesses, and all the cameras we have in the area," White said.
Man shoots coworker before taking his own life in Bloomfield Hills
Police are investigating a shooting at Steve's Deli in Bloomfield Hills Sunday morning. The shooting happened around 10 a.m. at Steve's Deli on Telegraph Road and Maple Road. Police said the shooting was a drive-by and the 52-year-old suspect is an employee at the deli. A 52-year-old staff member was injured and suffered non-life threatening injuries.
The suspect fled the scene before police arrived. Southfield Police Department located the suspect vehicle and initiated a traffic stop in the area of W. Outer Drive and Greenfield Road in the City of Detroit.
The suspect took his own life inside his vehicle before Southfield police officers could make contact with him, police said. No shots were fired by the police.
"Sunday morning, were lucky the restaurant was not busy there was 1 or 2 customers inside the restaurant," said Bloomfield Township Police Jim Gallagher. The motive for this shooting is unknown and is still under investigation.
Find more info on co-worker's shooting here.
Michigan gas prices shoot up to $4.17 a gallon
Gas prices had one of their highest jumps in a week in Michigan after the price for a gallon of gas jumped 23 cents. Drivers are now paying on average $4.17 a gallon for regular unleaded gas - about 33 cents more than this same time last month. In Metro Detroit, it's slightly about Michigan's average at $4.20 a gallon.
While energy demand will become a defining topic for much of the western world in the winter, it appears that demand has already spiked in the country while supply has tightened. Concerns in the oil market sent the cost of gasoline up last week partly because of a reduction in operations in the Gulf of Mexico due to worries from Hurricane Ian which struck the Florida coastline last week.
According to Gas Budddy, which tracks gas prices around the U.S., Michigan isn't the only state seeing jumps:
The cheapest gas in MIchigan was in Traverse City, where it cost $4.03 a gallon. Gas in Ann Arbor was about average at $4.17 a gallon.
More details on gas prices here.
Wolverine Watchmen trial begins Monday
The scheme to kidnap the Michigan governor will receive new scrutiny Monday when three men on trial for providing support to the men believed to be the big players in the plan. Joe Morrison, 27, Paul Bellar, 22, and Pete Musico, 27, are charged in Jackson with three crimes.
The three suspects will go to trial in Jackson County on state charges of providing material support for terroristic acts while forming an alliance with Barry Croft Jr. and Adam Fox, two men who were convicted in federal court earlier this summer.
The men face up to 20 years in prison for their involvement. The suspects are part of a militia group called the Wolverine Watchmen.
There are seven men in total who were arraigned on state charges connected to the plot.
Dearborn police arrest parents after suspected abuse of baby
Dearborn police arrested the parents of a one-month-old baby after finding signs of physical abuse. Police say a one-month-old baby was brought to a local pediatrician’s office on Friday with multiple visible injuries.
"Dearborn Police and Fire Department personnel were contacted due to concerns that the injuries appeared suspicious in nature," Dearborn police said in a news release. "The child was transported to Children’s Hospital of Michigan, where it was determined that the injuries were consistent with signs of physical abuse."
After an investigation by police, both parents of the child were taken into custody and are expected to be arraigned Monday. They face charges of 1st-degree child abuse.
The infant remains hospitalized in stable condition, police said.
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Daily Forecast
A chilly start will warm into the 60s Monday as temperatures plan to oscillate from chilly to warm this week.
What else we're watching
- The Ambassador Bridge closed Sunday night due to a bomb threat. The international border crossing reopened over the night.
- Former president Donald Trump stumped for candidates in Michigan Sunday night at a rally in Warren. Candidates for attorney general, secretary of state, governor, and the 10th District were all in attendance.
- A Detroit-based nonprofit that focuses on repurposing vacant school buildings into productive buildings will be deploying thousands of volunteers at the former Cooley High School on the city's west side Monday. A six-day project orchestrated by Life Remodeled will ensue.
- More affordable housing news is expected Monday with the kickoff of renovation of dozens of units on the city's north side. An announcement is expected 2 p.m.
- The UAW said an accident led to a worker's death at its Sterling Stamping Plant Friday. The man who died was an electrician. The circumstances around his death have not been released.
Nobel prize in medicine awarded to Svante Paabo for research on evolution
Swedish scientist Svante Paabo won this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for his discoveries on human evolution that provided key insights into our immune system and what makes us unique compared with our extinct cousins, the award's panel said.
Paabo has spearheaded the development of new techniques that allowed researchers to compare the genome of modern humans and that of other hominins — the Neanderthals and Denisovans.
While Neanderthal bones were first discovered in the mid-19th century, only by unlocking their DNA — often referred to as the code of life — have scientists been able to fully understand the links between species.
This included the time when modern humans and Neanderthals diverged as a species, determined to be around 800,000 years ago, said Anna Wedell, chair of the Nobel Committee.