Residents surrounding Dairy Phil Ice Cream Parlor in Clare are concerned after a suspect invaded the home connected to the restaurant, and was shot by the homeowner. The suspect died from their injuries.
Officers from the Clare Police Department responded to a report of a home invasion in progress on McEwan and Dwyer streets around 6 a.m. Thursday. Upon arriving to the scene, officers heard gunshots from the residence.
An initial investigation shows the homeowner fired a weapon at the intruder, causing fatal injuries. Neither the homeowner nor officers were injured.
Hearing about the incident, neighboring homeowner Paul Crook, a former member of the U.S. military, says he’s concerned about the safety of the neighborhood he retired to from Detroit.
“To a point,” Crook says. “Come and try to take what I have worked hard for and earned because you might regret it.
“This has been a very safe neighborhood. That’s one of the reasons I moved here was how safe it was,” he says. “And I was able to be in a small town that there’s a lot of neighbors looking out for each other.”
Dorothy Quick, living just down the street from Crook, was shocked. She’s lived in the area for about three years and now has some concerns.
“It feels safe, but there’s still that one chance in any neighborhood that it could happen day or night,” says Quick.
Quick also says there’s been times where she thought about how she would react if anyone entered her home, uninvited.
“There’s been times I have thought about it, but you can only do so much,” she says. “I just hope our neighborhood stays safe and nothing happens around any closer to this.”
Quick has let her sister, living just a mile away, know about what happened. They’ll both be ensuring their doors are locked.
“I’m going to be more conscious and aware of what’s going on around, at least my house, or in the neighbors houses,” she says. “And of course, I always keep an eye on the neighbors.”
The small neighborhood adjacent to Dairy Phil’s, looks out for each other according to Crook and Quick. But Quick adds that local police can also be seen patrolling the area, an added sense of safety.
Police say this home invasion appears to be an isolated incident and that there is no threat to the public.
The suspect has been identified as 48-year-old Kevin Michael Lighthall of Clare.
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