SPRINGFIELD (WKZO-AM) — An officer-involved shooting has left an armed robbery suspect hospitalized after a confrontation with a Calhoun County Sheriff’s sergeant on North 30th Street in Springfield early Wednesday afternoon.
Police received a tip that the man who robbed the Citgo gas station on West Michigan Avenue early Sunday might have been living there.
The sergeant spotted a brown Chevrolet Silverado pickup, like the one described by the gas station clerk, and attempted a traffic stop but they say the driver, since identified as Derrick Shirk, refused to stop.
Deputies say Shirk pulled into a driveway on 30th, went into the garage and came out with a handgun that later turned out to be an Airsoft pistol that had been altered to look like a real gun.
After refusing repeated warnings to drop the gun the sergeant, who had taken cover behind his cruiser, opened fire at the suspect.
It may have been an attempt at “suicide-by-cop,” as the 50-year-old reportedly asked the sergeant after the shooting “Why didn’t you kill me?”
The suspect was hit twice in the abdomen, and, after surgery at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, they’re saying it appears he will recover.
Shirk was already a wanted man, a parole absconder with a long list of break-ins, hold-ups and even a couple of jail escapes on his criminal record. As a repeat offender with a history of escape, he may be facing a life sentence in a maximum security prison if found guilty of the gas station robbery and whatever new charges he may face.
Calhoun County Sheriff Matt Saxton says it appears his sergeant followed procedure and was justified in using lethal force. The sergeant will be riding a desk while the shooting is reviewed internally and investigated by the Battle Creek Police Department.
– John McNeill
