Officer shot in arm; 3 in custody

COMSTOCK TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - A Kalamazoo County Sheriff Deputy was shot in the right arm after suspects in a pickup truck shot at police as two officers approached the vehicle during a routine traffic stop Friday evening.

Around 6:40 p.m., the deputies pulled over a full-size pickup truck on East Michigan near Sprinkle Road. As they approached the truck, someone inside began shooting at the officers, striking one in the arm. The deputies returned fire.

It's not known if anyone inside the truck was hit by the gunfire.

The suspects left the pickup truck near Collette Avenue and Electra Street - about a mile-and-a-half from the shooting scene.

Later on Friday night, officers identified a second suspect vehicle which the subjects were likely occupying and discovered that vehicle in the city of Portage.

An attempt to stop the vehicle in the Lovers Lane area resulted in a chase that continued onto Monticello Ave where the suspects crashed the vehicle into a fence.

A female passenger was taken into custody at that scene while two male suspects fled to a neighborhood north of W. Milham Ave.

A few minutes later, one of the suspects was found hiding in a garage in the 5000 block of Mt. Vernon Avenue. Then, that suspect took a vehicle that was inside the garage and drove it through the overhead door.

The vehicle went onto I-94 driving at a high rate of speed for several miles. Battle Creek police officers using Stop Stick devices were able to disable the vehicle near the Helmer Road exit on I-94. The suspect's vehicle crashed into the median guard wire.

The suspect again fled on foot from the damaged vehicle before being captured by surrounding officers and K9.

While the chase was happening in Calhoun County, officers at the Mt. Vernon Avenue scene apprehended a third suspect hiding in the back of a truck.

The suspects, William Wright, 28, and Christopher Wright, 25, and a female suspect, were lodged in the Kalamazoo County Jail facing numerous warrants and charges.

Undersheriff Paul Maytas tells 24 Hour News 8 William Wright is a parole absconder and that may be part of the motive behind Friday's incident.

"This is very scary," said Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller. "There was no known reason to us why these suspects would open fire on our deputies." He added he was "very relieved" when he arrived at the scene and saw the officers standing and talking.

The injured deputy was treated at a hospital and released. He is expected to completely recover.