By Christian Sheckler
South Bend Tribune
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — Authorities say they do not believe a man was trying to ambush police when he fired gunshots at a house after officers responded to a 911 call early Tuesday morning, prompting one officer to return fire and kill the man.
Instead, evidence suggested the man was targeting a person who lived at the house in the 900 block of Pavone Street, police said at a Tuesday morning news conference in Benton Harbor.
“At this point, we don’t think it was an ambush,” said Benton Harbor Public Safety Director Dan McGinnis. “It’s clear there was an intention to harm somebody at that residence, but we cannot say he was shooting purposefully at officers.”
Police first responded to the house about 2:17 a.m., after a 911 caller said someone was being held at gunpoint at the house. When police arrived, three officers approached the house while one stayed back to provide cover, said Benton Harbor Public Safety Director Dan McGinnis.
Residents at the house told police no one had called 911, and officers found no one was hurt or being held at gunpoint. As police officers were speaking with a female resident on the porch, four or five gunshots rang out from some bushes about 20 yards south of the house, McGinnis said.
Police and the female resident ran for shelter, while the officer who was providing cover opened fire with a high-powered rifle from behind a nearby tree. The gunman fired two more shots, and the officer fired another volley with his rifle, killing the man, police said.
Police had not released the man’s name Tuesday afternoon but said he was a 28-year-old black man. He was taken to Lakeland Hospital in St. Joseph, where he was pronounced dead.
When police searched the man, they found he had two semi-automatic handguns, one of which had spent its entire magazine of seven rounds, McGinnis said. The other gun was found in a pocket on the man’s left pantleg.
McGinnis said three of the four officers at the scene were wearing body cameras, and the three body cameras together supported the officers’ accounts.
Some of the footage showed muzzle flashes from the gunman’s position, McGinnis said. He added that the department planned to release all the video evidence after Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic reviews the case, a process that could take several weeks.
Michigan State Police are handling the investigation, which is standard procedure for Benton Harbor police in cases of officer-involved shootings. Police have not named the officer who opened fire, but McGinnis said he had been on the force for less than a year. He is on paid administrative leave pending the investigation.
Michigan State Police Lt. Chuck Christensen said the officer fired 15 rounds. It was unclear how many bullets hit the gunman and where he was struck. An autopsy was being conducted Tuesday morning, but the results had not been released by early afternoon.
Although no one was being held at gunpoint when police arrived at the house Tuesday morning, detectives believe the person who called 911 had credible information about the gunman targeting someone at the house, Christensen said. He said there’s no reason to believe the person who called 911 was working with the gunman to lead police into an ambush. Witnesses, phone records and history suggested the man had a dispute with someone who lived there, he said.
By late morning, at least three dozen people lingered along Pavone Street near the shooting scene. Many of them expressed frustration and beliefs that an innocent black man had been gunned down, though at least one resident offered comments that seemed to support the police version of the incident.
Two residents at the scene identified the man as Darius Wimberly, including Alice Smith, a close friend who described herself as Wimberly’s “god sister.” Most people said the man was known by the nickname “Karate” because he practiced Tae Kwon Do.
Antwon Johnson identified himself as the man’s brother, saying he was kindhearted and often spent time teaching neighborhood kids martial arts. Johnson, who would identify his brother only as Karate, said the killing added to mistrust of police among the black community.
“The sad thing is, we’re afraid of those who are paid to protect and serve,” Johnson said. “No one should wake up and be scared of the police.”
But one neighbor, Annie Hall, said she heard two distinct sets of gunshots, which she said was evidence that the man traded fire with the police.
“I was lying down and I heard ‘pop, pop, pop,’ then I heard ‘boom, boom, boom, boom’ right back at him,’” Hall said. “Me personally, I hate that it happened like that, but I heard it. Somebody shot first, and they shot back.”
Christensen said the gunman was riding a bicycle when he began firing. The first shots came from a clump of bushes near a small park, and the man had moved closer to the street before the officer returned fire, Christensen said. Police seized the bicycle as evidence, along with a vehicle that was hit by a gunshot.
In the wake of the shooting, city officials urged those frustrated by the killing to remain peaceful. At the same time, the officials acknowledged the city’s history of tension between black residents and police, underscored by five nights of riots in 2003 that were sparked by the death of a 28-year-old black man who died in a crash after a police chase.
The 2003 riots were concentrated at Pavone and Empire Avenue — less than a block from the scene of Tuesday’s fatal shooting.
“We hope we don’t have any issues. We understand people will be hot, we understand people will have their opinions,” McGinnis said. “I think we can agree to disagree peacefully. That’s why we think it’s important to get the facts out.”
In a press conference later Tuesday that was streamed online by area television stations, Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad said city officials had met with family of the man who was killed, in an effort to answer questions and ease tensions.
Though some neighborhood residents angrily questioned the man’s shooting, they said they planned to protest peacefully and did not expect violence.
“We’re not out here to hurt nobody,” Alice Smith said. “We just want justice.”
Residents like Annie Hall, who remembered the 2003 riots, hoped that was the case.
“I hope it stays peaceful,” she said. “Don’t burn down our city, y’all.”