KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A man is in custody, who police say was involved in an armed robbery in Kalamazoo before allegedly shooting at officers over the weekend.
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety (KDPS) confirmed the information with FOX 17 Tuesday afternoon.
KDPS says they arrested a 42-year-old man near Egelston and Shakespeare Avenues around 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday.
“It was a half an hour that I don’t wish upon anybody because it’s just scary,” said a woman who was inside the home where police took the suspect into custody.
She asked not to be identified, but called the man a close family friend.
According to her, her family knew him and his family for at least 15 years. She described him as a hardworking man who cared about his wife and children.
“We would have get-togethers,” she said. “If it wasn’t here, it was in their backyard. We would always have summer get-togethers, birthday parties.”
When asked, the woman says she was surprised to hear about the allegations related to the man’s arrest. She claims no one in her family knew about what had happened and his possible involvement.
Police searched a home near Clinton Avenue and Race Street earlier in the day in connection to the search, but found nothing. Investigators did take several items from a garage in the backyard.
It happened around 12 p.m., but according to the woman, by that time the man was at her house.
She says he was working on a truck for her husband and no one in her family thought anything of it since he frequently repaired cars for them.
“He was just pacing back and forth,” said the woman. “I know he was talking on his phone and stuff like that, [but] I don’t know who he was contacting. I don’t know if he knew what was going on and we didn’t.”
The man has yet to be formally charged, but KDPS expects him to be arraigned on Thursday.
According to the department he faces several charges, including assault with intent to murder.
READ MORE: Body camera footage released of robbery suspect who shot at officers in Kalamazoo
