ORION TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Authorities are investigating a deadly shooting in Oakland County.
It happened at about 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 17, at a home on Elkhorn Lake in Orion Township.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said an armed man broke into a home looking for his estranged girlfriend. Another man with a gun inside the house shot him while the woman hid in the other room.
Sheriff Michael Bouchard held a press conference Wednesday regarding the domestic violence incident. He said the 67-year-old man, identified as Galen Gavitt, was intent on hunting down his ex.
The family said the woman had a restraining order against Gavitt and an extreme risk protection order that required the confiscation of firearms. Police recovered two weapons from his home on June 12.
The woman was seeking shelter at her daughter’s home and she hid with her stepson in a bathroom after Gavitt reportedly got inside by breaking a window with an ax.
Gavitt fired a shot through the bathroom door, but no one was hit.
Gavitt then reportedly pointed his gun at the ex’s stepson and told him he was “here for her.”
Authorities said the stepson fired a single shot, hitting Gavitt in the head. He died at the scene.
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