COOPER TOWNSHIP, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – A hunt for a fugitive at a home near the Kalamazoo-Parchment border ended in a hail of gunfire that left the suspect mortally wounded Thursday morning.
The State Police had been looking for 37-year-old Thomas Verile Jr. for several days and acted on a tip he might be hiding at the home on 2826 East G Avenue off Mt. Olivet at about 10am.
State Police Lt. Dale Hinz says officers found the Scots resident in the basement and they began talking with the suspect, when he threatened the officers, who were from State Police Special Investigations Unit, Battle Creek Police and The U.S. Marshals Service.
The preliminary investigation found that several officers fired at Verile. Lt. Hinz also says that no gun was found on Virile, who was rushed to Borgess Emergency where he was later pronounced dead.
The suspect was apparently being sought for violating parole. Verile also had active warrants for failure to appear in court on a short-barreled shotgun charge and child neglect.
He had served two terms in prison for burglaries and had two years for a gun felony tacked onto his most recent sentence.
Thursday’s deadly confrontation happened at the home of a relative of his girlfriend.
Hinz reports that the Michigan State Police Fugitive Team came close to arresting Verile on Tuesday morning after several days of surveillance. They say he sped away, nearly striking two officers, and after a chase, crashed his vehicle and fled on foot. A K-9 track lost the scent.
The exact circumstances surrounding Thursday’s shooting remain under investigation, which has been turned over to detectives from the State Police Third District. Their case file will be turned over to the Prosecutor to determine if the use of lethal force was justified.
The departments of each of the officers involved will also do their own shooting and policy reviews.
