Man chases package thief, shoots him outside Dearborn Heights party store

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. (WJBK) - What started as a theft escalated to a chase - then gunfire.
    
A Detroit man is in police custody and another is in a local hospital after a shooting outside a party store in Dearborn Heights Friday.

The man chased a suspected package thief to the Lucky Star Party Store where he shot the alleged thief. There are bullet holes on the outside of the store and police say the victim was struck at least twice. Witnesses say the thief was held at gunpoint until police arrived.
 
"I just saw people scattering and everything and I saw the guy chasing the kid in front of the street and he then held him there and kid got shot obviously," said one witness.

It happened late Friday afternoon.

"What we heard is somebody shot somebody in the back, fired like three shots at him but we don't know why, what happened," said an employee of the store.

Dearborn Heights police say it all stemmed from a package theft from a nearby home in Detroit. The suspected shooter followed the suspected thief to W. Warren and Rockdale and confronted him.

FOX 2: "How many gunshots did you hear?" 

"Probably like seven or eight," said a witness. "It was like one, two then they kept coming, you know," 

"The guy that had the gun was holding him and he held him at gunpoint on the ground and the kid lifted up his shirt and sat on the side. The guy was like you're not leaving. Then I saw the police roll up and the guy holstered his gun back." 

Witnesses say officers disarmed the man and took him into custody. Paramedics rushed the gunshot victim to Beaumont Hospital in Dearborn.

It's unclear what in the moments before the shots were fired and if the stolen packages belonged to the suspected gunman.

Witnesses say he told police he had a concealed pistol license. The victim was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. 

Witnesses say the suspected gunman told police that the victim was armed but there has been no confirmation.