“Mr. Milks stated, ‘I have silver bullets that are going to go through your vest,’” says Timothy Kozal, Chief of Manistee’s Department of Public Safety.
Friday, the Manistee County prosecutor justified the deadly force by an officer after a tense standoff between him and an armed man.
The City of Manistee Public Safety chief says one of his officers was responding to a blight check on March 28th involving a bus in 73-year-old Lee Milk’s backyard.
The chief says Milks came outside the house with an assault-rifle style gun.
The police officer told him to put it down, but he refused.
The officer fired seven shots.
Milks later died in the hospital.
“Prosecutor [Jason] Haag stated, quote, given the circumstances of this incident, the officer had an honest and reasonable belief that he was facing imminent danger of death or great bodily harm at the time that he discharged his weapon,” Kozal says.
The officer is still on paid leave as Michigan State Police continue to investigate.
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