A man died after a Southgate police officer shot him Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of a Meijer store, during one of the busiest weekends of the year for the community.
The shooting happened at approximately 3:45 p.m. on Saturday, June 27, at the Meijer located at 16300 Fort Street, according to Southgate Police Chief Mark Mydlarz.
A shoplifting call turns deadly
Officers were dispatched to the store for a reported retail fraud in progress, Mydlarz said. A woman was taken into custody in connection with the shoplifting call, according to ClickOnDetroit.
When officers confronted a man suspected of shoplifting, he allegedly faced them with a "sharp instrument," according to law enforcement officials cited by CBS News Detroit and ClickOnDetroit. An officer then fired, striking the man.
The man died from his injuries. Authorities have not released his name.
Witness says it happened fast
The shooting occurred steps away from the Fort Street Dream Cruise crowd, a popular annual car cruise event that draws thousands of spectators along Fort Street through the Downriver communities of Lincoln Park, Southgate, Wyandotte, and Riverview.
"It went by so quick," a witness told ClickOnDetroit, describing the moment the officer shot the suspect.
Investigation underway
Michigan State Police are leading the investigation into the officer-involved shooting, Mydlarz said.
The officer who fired is on administrative leave, which Mydlarz described as standard protocol in a shooting pending the outcome of the investigation, according to Deadline Detroit.
Details about what specifically led to the confrontation remained limited as of Sunday. The Michigan State Police investigation is expected to take time to complete, as is typical in officer-involved shootings.
Southgate is a suburb of Detroit in Wayne County, part of the Downriver corridor along the Detroit River.