ROYAL OAK, Mich. – Here’s what we know after 911 callers in Royal Oak made some wild claims about being shot at and chased throughout the city.
911 call
Police said the chase began around 2:20 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.
Two men from Macomb County left a Birmingham night spot at closing time and got into a Rolls-Royce, initially heading south on Woodward Avenue, sources said.
As the Rolls-Royce got to 13 Mile Road, the men inside called 911, and the dispatcher heard them screaming, “I’ve been shot.”
Sources said the Rolls-Royce was apparently taking gunfire from someone in a Dodge Charger. It appeared from the phone call that the men thought they had been hit, but they actually hadn’t.
While the men were on the phone with 911, they told dispatchers that the driver of the Charger was chasing them around Royal Oak, according to sources.
Claims about car chase, shooting
The men from the Rolls-Royce told police that they were being chased east on 12 Mile Road from Woodward Avenue, a source told Local 4.
Dispatchers said they heard five or six more gunshots over the phone.
The men said they fled north on McDonald Avenue, then west on Lloyd Avenue, then south on Vinsetta Boulevard, then back to 12 Mile Road.
At that point, the speeding cars went right past a Royal Oak police cruiser, which pulled behind them. But the Rolls-Royce and Charger were going so fast that they got out of the officer’s sight.
The men in the Rolls-Royce continued to update dispatchers as they went north on Campbell Road, then west on Girard Avenue, then south onto Lauren Court, which is a dead end.
End of chase
The driver of the Charger went up a driveway and into a backyard, where the car got stuck, police said.
The people from inside the Charger got out and ran away. Police called in two K-9 teams and a drone, but the people from the Charger were not found.
Questions about chase
Here‘s what’s so strange about this case: Police said the Charger was actually ahead of the Rolls-Royce, not the other way around.
Security camera footage from a nearby elementary school showed that the Rolls-Royce had been shot up, but the driver of the Rolls-Royce was chasing the Charger.
All the while, 911 dispatchers were being told that the Charger was chasing the Rolls-Royce.
When officers asked the men from the Rolls-Royce for more information, they were initially uncooperative.
The Rolls-Royce is full of bullet holes, according to authorities. But the circumstances surrounding the shooting are still very uncertain.
Police continue to investigate the entire situation.
