EASTPOINTE (WWJ) - No criminal charges will be filed against a man accused of fatally shooting an 18-year-old in Eastpointe last week during an alleged road rage incident, officials said.
Detective Lt. Robert Koenigsmann with the Eastpointe Police Department told the Macomb Daily that the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office has denied a request for second degree murder charges against the 60-year-old shooter.
According to police, the trouble started just before 8 p.m. Friday when an 18-year-old riding a mini bike drove up to the passenger side of a Ram pickup truck which the 60-year-old man was driving in the area of Stricker and David Ave.
An altercation ensued before the 60-year-old allegedly shot the unarmed teen, identified as Ty Hale, police said.
“Based on witness accounts, the guy on the minibike made some statements to the people in the pickup truck to the point where, unfortunately, it resulted in a fatal incident,” Koenigsmann said Tuesday.
The detective said the two occupants in the truck “both expressed they were in fear for their lives based on what was going on,” he said.
Police said they arrived on scene after neighbors called 911, they found Hale unresponsive in the road with an apparent gunshot wound -- he was pronounced dead at the scene.
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The 60-year-old man accused of shooting the teen said he did so in self-defense. Koenigsmann said the man had a license to carry and had no criminal record.
He was taken into custody, but has since been released, the Macomb Daily reported.
Ann Arbor-based attorney William Amadeo, spoke on behalf of Hale's family, saying he was "shocked" to learn no charges will be filed in the incident that killed the father of two.
“From what I’ve seen, this should have been an open murder charge, where the prosecutor would have discretion in determining the appropriate charges,” Amadeo said to the Macomb Daily.
Authorities told WWJ that the incident was caught on a Ring doorbell camera although Koenigsmann did not go into detail about what words where exchanged between the two men.
“We don’t advocate violence ever, we prefer you would call the police department,” he said.
The Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office has declined to comment on their decision.