STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – Neighbors on Bonaparte Avenue were confused Monday morning after a police-involved shooting.
Chuck Maxon lives just a few doors down from the shooting. He said he heard the gun shots around 3:30 a.m.
"Suddenly I heard, 4 shouts fired, rapidly," he said.
He also heard everything leading up to that shooting.Â
"I have no clues what they were arguing about, but there were two or three people out there arguing. I did hear a guy yelling he was going to hurt somebody," said Maxon.
Police responded minutes later. That's when the suspect walked out of the home with a gun in his hand, police said. Sterling Heights Police Chief Dale Dwojakowski said his officers shot him multiple times.
"When something like this happens, it often involves decisions that are made in less than a second," said Dwojakowski.
Armed with long gun
Police said the man was armed with a long gun.
"It's a long gun -- that was the weapon that was recovered," said Lt. Mike Shaw with Michigan State Police.
A neighbor gave Local 4 a photo of the gun he said the suspect used. Police are trying to connect the dots to this confusing puzzle.
"We're going through and we talked to quite a few members of the neighborhood here, they've been cooperative with us. We'll go through and look through video and things like that," said Chief Dwojakowski.
Police are still trying to figure out why the suspect pointed the gun at them.
They said the officers involved are on paid administrative leave -- that's police protocol. State police will lead the criminal investigation, while Sterling Heights Police will do an internal investigation.
The man remains in critical condition and was set to undergo surgery. No one else was injured.
"We immediately called for fire and an ambulance for medical attention," said the chief. "Whenever there is an officer-involved shooting we have the Michigan State Police conduct a criminal investigation and we also have Sterling Heights police officers doing an internal investigation."