Dantzler bullet bounced off man's nose

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Rodrick Dantzler, the suspect in the slaying of seven people in Grand Rapids Thursday afternoon, allegedly continued his violent rampage by shooting the driver of a pickup truck in the nose during a traffic jam near Godfrey and Grandville.

But the bullet ricocheted off the man's nose.  

Robert Poore's cousin, Harold Taylor, was riding in the car at the time of the incident.  Taylor told 24 Hour News 8 his cousin likely survived the bullet because of a titanium plate in his nose.

Around 3 p.m., Poore was driving the Dodge pickup truck with his cousin. They were headed south on Godfrey near the old Keeler Brass plant, but stopped because a semi truck was blocking the road as it backed into a loading dock.

As they waited for the semi to clear, they saw two cars drive around the semi from the other side of Godfey - a grey minivan and a Lincoln Town Car.

The minivan and the Lincoln stop, and the woman driving the minivan gets out and gets into the Lincoln.

Then, Taylor told 24 Hour News 8, a Lincoln Navigator - which appeared to be following the two cars - raced past everyone.

Taylor and Poore ignored it and made a left onto Martha as soon as the semi cleared the road. But when they got to the top of the hill at Grandville, the Lincoln Town Car came up next to the pickup.

"As soon as we take a right on Grandville, the car stood beside us and pinned us against the truck and then he raised his gun and started shooting at our truck and my cousin threw my head down," Taylor said. "I tried to get up to see the license and as soon as I did that I seen his eyes while he was shooting, non-stop."

Poore was shot in the nose, but only suffered minor injuries. He was treated and released.

"Lucky," that is the word Robert Poore repeated over and over.

Police interviewed the men and asked them to pick out the suspect from a group of pictures, and they saw a picture they identified as the shooter.

Taylor said they prayed he'd be caught because, by the look in his eye, they knew he was aiming to kill.