Man Killed By Michigan Police Wasn't Targeting Them, Cops Say

"We understand people will be hot. We understand people will have their own opinions. I think we can agree to disagree peacefully," one official said.
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Police in Benton Harbor, Michigan, say a man who shot at officers Tuesday as they responded to a 911 call didn’t intentionally ambush them.

Instead, police believe the man ― whom the Detroit Free Press identified as 28-year-old Darius Wimberly ― intended to target the resident of the house they’d been called to when he began shooting. Police returned fire, killing Wimberly.

No one else was injured in the shootout.

“At this point, we don’t think it was an ambush,” Benton Harbor Public Safety Director Daniel McGinnis told reporters at a Tuesday morning news conference. “It’s clear there was an intention to harm somebody at that residence, but we cannot say he was shooting purposely at officers.”

McGinnis said a third party called 911 at 2:12 in the morning Tuesday and indicated a person was being held at gunpoint inside a house on Pavone Avenue, south of downtown.

Four officers traveled to the area, three of whom approached the house and spoke to residents, who denied calling police and said everything was fine. One officer remained behind with a rifle to provide cover, if necessary.

While police spoke with one of the residents on the porch, they say someone fired “four or five” shots at the house from a bush, prompting the fourth officer who stayed behind to return fire. The officer fired again after the suspect shot another two rounds, fatally injuring him.

Benton Harbor police say they recovered two handguns from Wimberly, one of which appeared to have been fired seven times.

Residents in the area voiced skepticism of the official account. Antwon Johnson, who identified himself as Wimberly’s brother, painted a picture to the South Bend Tribune of a gentle person who taught martial arts to local kids.

In 2003, violent riots erupted after a black man died in a police chase less than a block from Tuesday morning’s shooting.

“We understand people will be hot. We understand people will have their own opinions. I think we can agree to disagree peacefully,” McGinnis said at the briefing.

A neighbor who heard the exchange said she believes the police were indeed fired upon.

“I was lying down and I heard ‘pop, pop, pop,’ then I heard ‘boom, boom, boom, boom’ right back at him,” neighbor Annie Hall told the Tribune, describing the sounds of two distinctly different sounding guns. “Somebody shot first, and they shot back.”

Body cameras worn by three of the four officers corroborate their take on the incident, McGinnis said. The Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety has pledged to release the recordings once an independent investigation led by Michigan State Police concludes.

“We believe in full disclosure, and at some point, once we’ve gotten with the family and taken care of the investigation, we will be releasing videos and the audio,” McGinnis said.

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