Man urinating outside mall pulls gun on police www.privateofficer.com
Harper Woods MI April 30 2011 Two men are in custody today after one pulled a handgun on a police officer in a parking lot near Eastland Center in Harper Woods, police say.
Harper Woods Deputy Police Chief Jim Burke tells The Detroit Free Press security officers at the shopping center, located near Kelly Road and Eight Mile, reported two men suspected of being intoxicated staggering outside a home improvement store at 11 a.m. Harper Woods Police Lt. Rob Hunter, who was nearby, drove into the lot, where he spotted one man urinating next to a car.
The newspaper reports Hunter approached one of the men as they were walking away, and then the man reached into his waistband and pulled out a handgun, but Hunter was able to get it away from him.
Burke could not be reached for comment by MLive.com at this time.
The shooting occurs about a month after mall officials announced a partnership with K9 Academy to incorporate to start a K9 Patrol initiative “to enhance the safety and security at the mall.”
This is at least the third reported situation involving a firearm at the mall in the past six months or so.
In November, a dispute between two rival groups of teenagers escalated into gunfire when members of one of the groups opened fire inside Eastland, critically injuring one teenager and a clothing store worker.
And just two months before the shooting inside the mall, a 30-year-old man was killed in the facility’s parking lot.
According to CBSDetroit.com, the man was sitting in his car when another car pulled next to him, and someone inside began shooting. The victim was shot multiple times, and Harper Woods EMS pronounced him dead at the scene.
Eastland opened in 1957 and currently has nearly 90 storefronts.
Source:MLive.com
