Man Planning 'Ambush' On Police Fatally Shot In Kalamazoo, Michigan

A man from Kalamazoo, Michigan, who wanted to “ambush” the police was shot and killed Tuesday at a plasma donation center.

According to Lisa Walterhouse, an employee at the Biomat Plasma Center, police responded to a 911 call after the suspect entered the building and fired shots. No employee of the plasma center was harmed and the police believe that the suspect was also an employee of the center although it was not confirmed.

During the shootout that ensued, a police officer from the Kalamazoo Public Safety Department (KDPS) was shot in the torso but the injury wasn’t life-threatening since he was wearing a bulletproof vest. He was taken to a nearby hospital and is expected to survive, the City’s Public Safety Chief Karianne Thomas said. Another officer fired several shots and killed the suspect.

Police say preliminary information about the incident suggested that the man entered the plasma center “with the intent to draw officers to the scene and then ambush them upon entry.”

When the police arrived at the scene, the man fired several shots at them prompting them to shoot at him. After one of the officers was shot, the other one continued to engage with the suspect till a back-up team arrived. By then, the shooter was struck several times and with the help of the other officers, he was caught and the officers began conducting "life-saving measures" on him. He did not survive.

“He was waiting by the door for the officers to arrive. They encountered gunfire with gunfire,” Thomas said.

The Kalamazoo Police Department issued a statement about the incident and posted it on their Twitter page as well. The statement says, “Even in Kalamazoo we are not immune to workplace violence or to violence directed towards first responders."

Names of neither the shooter nor the police officer were released. However, the police statement said that the officer who was shot had been working with the police force for more than two and a half years while the other officer had joined the force nine months ago.

This isn’t the first case where a police officer has been shot on duty this month. A woman from Chicago shot a 34-year-old officer of the Chicago Police Department on Saturday as the officer was serving her a search warrant for narcotics and illegal weapons. When officers arrived at Emily Petronella's residence in their marked vehicle, she fired through the door and injured one officer. He was taken to a nearby hospital where the doctors determined that the bullet fractured a vertebrae and lodged itself into the officer’s right shoulder. He was operated on and taken to the intensive care unit. His injury was classified non-threatening Sunday.

In yet another case, a police officer from Columbus, Ohio, was shot in the face as he tried to conduct surveillance of a vehicle earlier this month. The office was identified as William Frease and was shot three times by unidentified suspects. Frease was taken to a local hospital where paramedics reported that he had non-life-threatening injuries to his cheek and would recover soon.