Deer blind death: Police shot man in self-defense, prosecutor says

May 11—KALKASKA — Two Michigan State Police troopers who shot a suspect in a deer blind will not be charged in the case, Kalkaska County Chief Prosecuting Attorney Ryan Ziegler said.

Jake Turner, 35, of Fife Lake, was killed by police on Jan. 28 in Springfield Township, ending a pursuit that stemmed from a domestic violence incident the day before.

Ziegler said he reviewed all the evidence from that January 2024 weekend, and will not be pressing criminal charges against the two state troopers, Curtis Alward and Adam Whited, who shot Turner multiple times.

After an hours-long chase with K-9 and other law enforcement, Alward and Whited were below the deer blind where Turner was hiding and saw him raise a weapon in their direction, Ziegler said in the report.

"Officers again gave several commands for him to come out and show his hands, which he did not comply with," Ziegler said. "Officers can be heard radioing for non-lethal alternatives ... They can be heard on the video giving him loud verbal commands to show his hands."

The day before Turner's death, Kalkaska County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a call of a suspected domestic assault in Springfield Township at 10:21 a.m. Jan. 27.

By the time they arrived, according to a release from Sheriff Pat Whiteford, Turner had already left. Sheriff's deputies were told Turner did not have access to firearms, but had a pocket knife with him.

Deputies, along with the Antrim County K9 Team, looked for Turner for about five hours before telling the alleged victim to call police if he should return. The release from Whiteford did not offer any details about the alleged assault.

The next day, Turner was spotted on trail camera footage taken about a mile away, state police said. The property owner asked a neighbor to check his trailer and, when he did, the neighbor was confronted by Turner, who allegedly fired a gun into the air.

State police Public Information Officer Lt. Derrick Carroll said the neighbor called police.

When a Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officer and a sheriff's deputy got to the trailer, they saw Turner running into the woods, Carroll said. When they followed him, they allegedly heard more gunshots and took cover.

A Michigan State Police K9 team and a trooper from their Emergency Support Team tracked Turner to the deer blind in a tree where the confrontation occurred.

In their statements, the troopers near the deer blind said they "could see the suspect had repositioned and was once again aiming the weapon at the officers." Ziegler's report does not state if Turner fired at the troopers.

"An officer is justified in using as much force in self-defense as any other citizen," Ziegler said. "There was no intent by the officers, when they arrived, to escalate the situation to a shootout — until such a time as they saw the suspect raise his firearm. They then fired in self-defense, legitimately fearing for their lives."

Body camera footage corroborated trooper's accounts, Ziegler said. The officers' reaction was "based on an honest belief that the suspect was aiming a firearm at them."

Drone pilots determined that Turner was dead inside the tree stand. According to the death certificate, he died as a result of gunshot wounds to his chest and extremities.

A loaded gun was found underneath his body, according to police reports.

"I believe these two officers acted appropriately to defend themselves," Ziegler said. "Even if I did not personally believe that, I believe it would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to convince 12 impartial persons beyond a reasonable doubt that this act was not justified by self-defense, based on the evidence in this case."

As per customary procedure, the state police also conducted a separate internal investigation to determine if there was any police wrongdoing in connection to Turner's death.

That report was finalized before Ziegler's decision was made, and a copy has been requested by the Record-Eagle under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. That request is still pending.

Turner is the third person shot and killed by law enforcement in the past year in northern Lower Michigan. None of the shootings resulted in terminations, civil lawsuits or criminal charges.

State police command staff did not identify Turner after his death, citing a new policy in which they do not release the names of victims in fatalities. However, on April 17, when troopers killed Samuel Sterling in Kentwood, state police Director Col. James F. Grady II released the victim's name and details of his death in a statement the next day.