SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – An 18-year-old from Southfield is facing charges after allegedly breaking into a rabbi’s home during a Rosh Hashanah gathering for University of Michigan students.
Background: University of Michigan students, rabbi held at gunpoint in Southfield home
Police in Southfield held a press conference Monday, Oct. 7, to update the public on the case and to assure people that they do not believe the crime was motivated by antisemitism.
It happened just before 11 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 2, at a home on Hilton Street, near Kingshire Road. Bryson Trice was reportedly armed with a handgun when entered the home through its back door. At the time, the homeowner was hosting a dinner party for more than two dozen University of Michigan students. Police said a woman in the kitchen heard the back door open and was greeted by the suspect, who pointed a handgun at her and demanded she hand over everything.
“I’m taking everything; give me everything.”
Instead, the woman ran into another room, told everyone what just happened and they were able to escape through the front door.
The suspect was able to leave the house with the woman’s purse. Police believe he was caught off guard by the woman’s response, grabbed what he could and ran.
Southfield Polie Chief Elvin Barren said there is no evidence that the crime was antisemitic, but was a crime of opportunity. Carolyn Normandin, the Regional Director of the Michigan Anti-Defamation League, joined Barren in emphasizing that while the United States has seen a rise in antisemitic crime, they do not believe the attempted armed robbery was motivated by hate.
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“Sometimes crimes happen to Jewish people. Sometimes Jewish people are victims. Sometimes the incident is related to their characteristic of being Jewish and sometimes not,” Normandin said. “Not every crime that happens to a Jewish person is motivated as a hate crime.”
The full press conference can be watched in the video player above.
Barren said police were able to locate someone who matched the suspect’s description nearby as they canvased the neighborhood, who they witnessed enter another house. When police searched the home, he had already left the area.
Police said the home belonged to a friend of Trice, who told police he was at the home earlier that day at a time that conflicted with surveillance video of the suspect, and that she had driven him to a relative’s home in Oak Park. She was later arrested for obstruction of justice. However, police do believe Trice acted alone.
A doorbell camera nearby reportedly captured Trice arriving at the home wearing the exact same clothes as described by the woman from the home invasion.
Police tracked Trice to a home belonging to a relative of his in Detroit, where they took him into custody after initiating a traffic stop on a vehicle he was seen entering as a passenger.
Footage of the evidence that allowed police to track Trice, as well as bodycam footage of his arrest, can be watched in the video player above.
Bryson Trice has been charged with one count of armed robbery and one count of first-degree home invasion. Additional charges are pending.
Barren said Trice had no prior criminal history.
“What that means to me is that this is probably the first time that he’s been caught,” Barren said. “You don’t just graduate to committing a home invasion and armed robbery -- and to me, based on my experience, generally people take steps toward doing something so bold and so brazen.”
Trice remains in police custody on a $750,000 cash bail.
