JONESVILLE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Michigan’s Attorney General has cleared the State Troopers in the officer-involved shooting death of a suspect who had killed a Hillsdale County Sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop last year.
34-year-old Eric Michael Fiddler of Jonesville was killed after he opened fire on Michigan State Police troopers June 27, 2024, with the Attorney General’s office finding they acted in self-defense and defense of fellow officers.
Earlier that afternoon, Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Deputy William Butler conducted a traffic stop on Beecher Road in Jonesville, during which vehicle passenger Eric Fiddler shot and murdered Deputy Butler before fleeing on foot. Six troopers of the MSP Emergency Support Team (EST) were dispatched to track and apprehend the armed suspect.
Accompanying the six troopers of the EST were two MSP K9 officers and their K9s and, as well as an MSP sergeant and trooper from the Region of Irish Hills Narcotics Office.
An individual called 9-1-1 to report a sighting of Fiddler near Osseo Road and North Street. Shortly after police spotted the Fiddler retreating into wooded land south of Culbert Road and east of Osseo Road, and the search team entered the dense woodland nearby. A K9 indicated Fiddler’s presence in a shed, and a trooper three times issued loud verbal commands for Fiddler to come out with his hands up. With no response from Fiddler, the team made entry upon the shed and found it empty.
Minutes later, amid dense trees and thick brush, a trooper saw Fiddler laying behind a short, degraded cement foundation wall approximately 50 feet from the shed, and ordered him to show his hands. Instead, Fiddler shot at the trooper, and all six members of the MSP EST returned fire, killing Eric Fiddler on the forest floor.
Fiddler was shot in the left side of his head. His 9mm pistol remained in his hand following his death, and a fired cartridge case from his pistol was located near his body.
Toxicology testing on Fiddler’s blood revealed an extremely high level of methamphetamines.
According to a release from the Attorney General’s office, under all the facts and circumstances known to troopers, they were justified in their use of deadly self-defense in the shooting of Fiddler.
Under Michigan State Police policy, all officer-involved shootings are first assigned to investigators from a different district than where the incident occurred. The initial investigation was conducted by the MSP Fifth District Special Investigation Section, which then referred to matter the Department of Attorney General.
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