CHICAGO – Police in Michigan surrounded a house where a man suspected of fatally shooting seven people, including a child, was holed up Thursday with a hostage in a tense standoff in the Great Lakes city of Grand Rapids.
Rodrick Shonte Dantzler, who was armed with a handgun, earlier released another hostage, a 53-year-old woman, after demanding a sports drink and cigarettes, according to police. Police dispatches suggested Dantzler, 34, had been snorting an unknown substance.
“Our hope, our prayer is that there will be a peaceful resolution here,” Grand Rapids Police Chief Kevin Belk told reporters. He said it appeared Dantzler had no connection to the house where he has remained for hours, surrounded by a heavy police presence.
Dantzler ran into the home in the northeast side of the city after abandoning his vehicle following a police chase tearing through downtown and on the freeway.
Upon entering the home, Dantzler had fired three shots and police responded with gunfire. In addition to those he killed, Dantzler also shot two people during his rampage, including a woman likely caught in crossfire and another person the suspect struck with his car, according to Belk.
Neither of them suffered from life-threatening injuries.
“Our goal right now is to get him into custody,” Belk said. “At this point, we obviously have him cornered in a house, certainly better than having him on the loose. But we’re obviously extremely concerned about the people that are in the house with him.”
Dantzler had a personal connection to both households where he killed his victims, police said without elaborating. A 10-year-old girl was among the dead. Five women and a man were also killed.
“We consider him armed and dangerous,” Sergeant Jon Wu of the Grand Rapids Police Department told Agence France-Presse, confirming the fatalities and saying that a city-wide manhunt was under way, involving state troopers and helicopters.
“We have all our resources deployed.”
Family members said Dantzler had been released recently from prison, was very distraught, and may be bipolar and off his medication, according to press reports.
CBS television affiliate WWMT said the suspect had a criminal record. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to assault and battery and served a prison sentence for about a year.
He also pleaded guilty 10 years earlier to assault with bodily harm less than murder and received a three to 10-year prison sentence.
He received a year’s probation in 1997 for malicious destruction of property, and was charged in 1992 as a juvenile for breaking and entering.
A Facebook page registered under Dantzler’s middle and last name indicated he was tech building engineer living in Grand Rapids.