Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
An investigation is underway to determine if a 26-year-old Pontiac man acted in self-defense when he fatally shot a 34-year-old man at a party store in the city Thursday night after being physically attacked.
According to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, it was shortly before 11 p.m. when deputies and Star EMS responded to the Huron Liquor Shoppe at 140 E. Huron Street on a report that someone had been shot. The victim was lying on the store’s floor, shot once in the chest and once in the pelvic area, the sheriff’s office said. He was transported to McLaren-Oakland Hospital for treatment and died early Friday morning.
The sheriff’s office said the store’s security camera footage shows the suspect was buying merchandise when the victim walked in and began punching him repeatedly. The two then began to physically fight and leave the camera-view into one of the aisles. Customers can then be seen ducking and running away, possibly after hearing gunshots. The suspect then paid for his items and left the store.
While deputies were at the scene, the suspect’s mother called the Sheriff’s Operation Center to report that her son had come home and told her he had shot someone who had attacked him at the party store, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies went to the home in the 100 block of Vernon Drive and took him into custody.
The man has a valid license to carry a concealed pistol, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies took a firearm believed to have been used in the shooting as evidence.
Results of the investigation will be submitted to the Oakland County prosecutor who will determine if the shooting was justified as self-defense.