SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — A year ago Saturday, a man opened fire on the South Haven South Pier, killing one person and hurting another, before turning the gun on himself.
Police say Aidan Ingalls shot a man and his wife on the pier before shooting himself. The man died from his injuries and his wife ultimately survived.
FOX 17 talked with Don Bantilan Friday, the man who captured the last seconds of Ingall’s life on camera.
“Something told me to just stop and record,” Bantilan told FOX 17. “The minute he looked right at me, I’m like, ‘I don’t want to be a victim.’”
Bantilan said he hasn’t been back to the beach since August 20, 2021.
“I try not to put myself in those surroundings where there’s too many people,” Bantilan explained. “You know, South Haven. That’s a safe place you’d think. I had pictures three to five minutes prior to that where there was 12-13 other people in that area. Why he waited to not kill the rest of them, I thank God for that.”
Police say Ingalls already was on their radar after threatening to commit a mass shooting at his high school years before.
READ MORE: Police: Deadly South Haven pier shooter was Paw Paw student who planned 2018 school attack
They say he planned a school shooting in Paw Paw and his family spoke up to prevent what he’d depicted in drawings.
Ingalls spent the next few years in the juvenile system and on probation.
The deadly shooting in South Haven happened just weeks after Ingalls was released from supervision mandated by the system.
Dan Abbott, Van Buren County Sheriff then and now, says law enforcement did everything they could.
“My heart still goes out to the family that lost a loved one,” Abbott told FOX 17. “I had a firm come in that dives in and does research on cases like this.”
The findings included a gap in the system. The National Policing Institute’s director for targeted violence said Ingalls never should have slipped through the cracks because his dangerous ambitions did not go away with time.
The shooting prompted bipartisan legislation in the state budget, with $15 million earmarked, to extend support to extremely high-risk people, like Ingalls, so they don’t end up getting released without support.
It’s part of the approved school budget. The $15 million will create five different areas in Michigan with experts and resources to make sure those who are suffering from extreme mental health crises never get the chance to hurt someone.
Starting October 1 those expert-level resources, with the Michigan State University Psychiatric team on board, will be funded for the next five years.
The National Policing Institute says the pilot program puts Michigan on the forefront of the nation for threat assessment and prevention.
“When I go to the beach now, I look at things different,” Abbott added. “Because I go to that same beach with my family on a regular basis now. I look at things different because of that day.”
