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Screenshot from WXYZ video
A 25-year-old Ann Arbor man on probation for a violent crime shot and wounded a mother in the hip early Tuesday evening outside an Old Navy store in northern Oakland County and drove off with her car. Her young son, who was with her, was not harmed.
The man took police on a brief chase before crashing the stolen car and taking off on foot, said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard in an interview livestreamed on WXYZ-TV. A massive police hunt that included dogs and drones resulted in his arrest.
The incident took place around 5:45 p.m. at Baldwin Commons Plaza, just off Baldwin Road and Interstate 75, in Orion Township.
Bouchard said the man was sitting outside a Panera Bread next to Old Navy.
Sheriff Michael Bouchard
“It looks like he was sitting here looking for someone who would be his victim to steal their car," Bouchard said.
When he spotted the mother, who is in her 40s, along with her young son coming out of Old Navy, he approached them, Bouchard said. He then shot the mother, grabbed her keys, and drove off with her car. The boy ran into a store for help.
Bouchard said his office put out an alert, and summoned detectives, a special investigations unit, auto theft and fugitive apprehension teams, police dogs, drones and a helicopter. Police were able to spot the fleeing vehicle using a Flock camera system, which reads license plates and takes pictures of passing vehicles.
After the car crashed in Groveland Township, in the northwest corner of Oakland County, the man took off on foot.
"One of our undercover plainclothes detectives from auto theft spotted him and took him into custody," Bouchard said.
"It was about an hour and 25 minutes from the time we got the call of the shooting till the handcuffs were on," Bouchard said.
He said the mother was undergoing surgery.
