KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — A man with no criminal history may have one now after two hours in which police say he allegedly committed a lifetime of crimes, including assault, ethnic intimidation, a fire bombing, an armed robbery, a car-jacking, a high speed chase, and others.
Kalamazoo Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley said it began with an armed robbery at the Citgo gas station on East Main Street at about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The suspect next appeared at a small home on Monterey, reportedly yelling racial slurs and pumping over a dozen rounds from a rifle into the home, before throwing a fire bomb that left a scorch mark, and leaving the scene.
A female occupant of the home, identified as Betty Jo Brewer, was wounded in the chest but is reported in stable condition after surgery.
The next report came across town at Croyden and Drake, where Hadley said the man ditched his van and car-jacked a blue Chevrolet Malibu from a college student.
He was last seen fleeing north on Nichols Road into Cooper Township by Kalamazoo Township police who were in high-speed pursuit, but lose track of the fleeing suspect.
The report prompts several schools from Kalamazoo Central to Plainwell to trigger a precautionary lockdown. The car vanished. A State Police Helicopter joined the search at some point, but apparently wasn’t looking where the suspect was heading.
At about 11:25 a.m. a witness reported the car had hit a tree at 43rd and TS Avenue in southeast Kalamazoo County in the Climax-Scotts area.
Multiple sources say a 28-year-old from Gun Plain Township was taken into custody. He was treated for bruised ribs and booked into the Kalamazoo County Jail on assault and other counts. His home in Allegan County was searched.
The suspect has no prior criminal record. He could be formally charged on Wednesday.
