Key takeaways:
- Troopers responding around 11:40 a.m. to a Lake Township home found three people dead and one person critically injured, state police said.
- Police identified the suspect as 39-year-old Chad Hickman and said he was found dead in woods near Caldwell Township after his vehicle was located nearby.
- Authorities said five victims were killed in the case; their names and ages were not immediately released, and a motive remains under investigation.
Five people were killed Friday in rural northern Michigan, and the suspected gunman was later found dead after a manhunt that stretched from one home to a wooded area, state police said.
Michigan State Police identified the suspect as Chad Hickman, 39. Authorities said he fled after troopers were called at about 11:40 a.m. to a shooting at a residence in Lake Township, a community in Missaukee County about 260 miles north-northwest of Detroit.
When troopers arrived, they found three people dead at the home and a fourth person critically injured, police said. The injured person was taken to a local hospital, The Guardian reported.
Police said Hickman had left the scene before officers arrived, prompting a search. The Missaukee County sheriff’s office had asked the public for help finding Hickman, describing him as “armed and dangerous,” The Guardian reported.
During the search, troopers found another person dead at a separate residence in Missaukee County, authorities said. Police said that death was believed to be connected to the same case.
Investigators later located Hickman’s vehicle near a wooded area close to Whitlock Lake in Caldwell Township. Troopers searched the woods and found Hickman and another person dead nearby, state police said.
In all, six people were found dead, including Hickman. Police described the case as a multi-homicide investigation. The names and ages of the five victims were not immediately released, and authorities did not provide the manner of death for each person.
A motive remained under investigation Friday.
“This situation is heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved,” Michigan State Police Lt. Ashley Miller said in a statement. “We remain committed to conducting a thorough investigation and will provide updates as new information becomes available.”
The Guardian reported that court records show Hickman was in the process of a divorce. The outlet also reported that Hickman had been sentenced to more than a year in county jail after pleading guilty in 2024 to two misdemeanors: contributing to the delinquency of a child and fourth-degree child abuse. The charges dated to a 2010 offense, The Guardian reported.
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