OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – A massive search for a man police called a serial murder suspect ended with that man shooting himself in the head, according to police.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Kenyel Brown is in critical condition.
Brown is connected to at least six homicides, one nonfatal shooting and two carjackings in Metro Detroit. Three of the shootings were in River Rouge, two were in Detroit and one was in Highland Park.
Craig said someone who worked at a bookstore reported Monday that Brown was there. That person recognized Brown from news reports.
When officers arrived, he had already fled the scene and was headed in the direction of Oak Park. Police had K-9 units do a search and within an hour and a half he was spotted jumping fences, trying to avoid officers.
A woman looked out of her back window, at a home in the 20000 block of Ridgedale Street on Monday afternoon, and saw Brown in her backyard, officials said. She called her mother first.
“She said, ‘Momma, he’s in my backyard. He’s dressed in all black.’ I said, ‘Call the police. Call the police, honey,’” the woman’s mother told Local 4.
Local 4 crews were on scene as police tried to bash down a fence to get to Brown. At some point during this confrontation a single gunshot was heard.
Video shows Brown on a stretcher, being rushed to a hospital, after Craig said he shot himself in the head.
“That suspect fired a single gunshot through his head,” Craig said at a news conference.
Watch the report from Local 4 News at 6:
“The investigation is still very much continuing at this point,” Craig said
Brown is wanted in connection to multiple crimes dating back to Jan. 8.
Throughout the search for Brown police believed they were close to having him in custody at several locations.
Craig could not say if Brown will be tied to more homicides. He did say that Brown had previously served 10 years for a manslaughter charge and was on parole.
Craig did say that one of the fatal shootings that occurred in Detroit involved drugs. The other involved an argument over money, but it could have been a robbery.
Police believe there were people helping Brown avoid capture by police. Craig said police are going to pursue those people. U.S. Marshals took a woman into custody later Monday, and she is believed to have been involved in hiding Brown.
Watch the news conference held by Craig:
Breaking down the alleged crimes
Craig said Brown was wanted in connection to at least six homicides, a nonfatal shooting and two carjackings in Metro Detroit.
River Rouge
Two people died and another was hospitalized after a shooting in River Rouge overnight on Jan. 30.
Police said the shooting happened around 9:55 p.m. at a home on Beechwood Street. Police were flagged down by a 44-year-old man who had been shot multiple times in his torso. He led police to a nearby home.
Inside, officers discovered the bodies of Dorian Patterson, 48, and Kimberly Green, 52, who had both been fatally shot. Brown is the main suspect in this incident and authorities had murder warrants out for him.
Brown is also believed to be connected to an earlier homicide in that city, but police have not released the details.
Detroit
Brown was wanted in connection to a shooting that happened Saturday morning in the 20 block of Minnesota Street in Detroit at 1:45 a.m., according to police. The body of a 36-year-old man was located in the back room of a vacant building in that area. He had suffered a gunshot wound.
In another incident, the body of Amir Thaxton, 41, was found Thursday night at 11 p.m. in a building near the intersection of 8 Mile Road and Redmond Street. Thaxton was working late when he was fatally shot. Police believe Brown is responsible.
Highland Park
Highland Park police believe Brown could be responsible for the death of a man who was found beaten to death in a pickup on Tuesday, but they have not confirmed this.
A woman discovered the man after noticing the white pickup truck had been running on Church Street from before she left her home at 6 a.m. until she returned home that evening. She found a man slumped over in the passenger seat.