DEARBORN, Mich. – A man accused of fatally shooting a hotel clerk in suburban Detroit during a dispute over money then barricading himself inside a room has surrendered to police, authorities said.
The gunman's surrender at the Hampton Inn in Dearborn occurred shortly before 9 p.m. EDT Thursday, or nearly seven hours after the standoff began. Businesses in the surrounding popular dining and shopping area had been evacuated or locked down.
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The man was “armed with a rifle, many times threatened officers, and it was quite tenuous,” Dearborn police Chief Issa Shahin told reporters. “But fortunately, we were able to resolve that peacefully.”
The shooting stemmed from a dispute over money with staff, Shahin said. The man who was shot, identified as a 55-year-old from Riverview, was taken to a hospital and died, Shahin said.
He was "just trying to do his job," Shahin said.
Shahin said the suspect, who was not identified by police Thursday, had a history of mental illness and substance abuse.
Shots were reported shortly after 1 p.m. in the busy district in Dearborn, a city of over 100,000 people just west and southwest of Detroit. The suspect was contained in the hotel, police Cpl. Dan Bartok told reporters.
Police evacuated the hotel and surrounding businesses. Traffic into the downtown was blocked, Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said.
Earlier, state police tweeted that the “situation is active and dangerous” and that shots still “were being fired by the suspect.”
Officers in tactical gear could be seen, as well as emergency vehicles.
Some businesses near the hotel, including Dearborn Federal Savings Bank and Better Health Market, locked down with customers inside.
"There are police everywhere,” said Cheryl Seguin, a security officer at the bank. “Police from multiple jurisdictions and federal, county, state agencies. Multiple police cars and other types of units -- EMS, just about everything.”
Patrick Collins, manager of the Better Health Market, described seeing police, automatic weapons and ambulances. Three customers were inside the market.
“There’s a lot going on,” he said.
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Savage reported from Chicago. Williams reported from West Bloomfield, Michigan.