A fight inside a Spirit Halloween store on John R near 14 Mile Road in Madison Heights erupted into gunfire Friday afternoon, leaving a man in his 20s with multiple gunshot wounds and sending the suspected shooter to the hospital after he was attacked by people at the scene. Police said the shop was packed with last-minute costume shoppers when the violence broke out just after 2 p.m.
Madison Heights Police Chief Brent LeMerise said the shooting followed an altercation inside the store, describing a chaotic scene amid the holiday rush. “There was a lot of people inside — a lot,” Lemerise said, according to the Detroit Free Press. He said a fight led to the shooting, and that one person brandished a firearm and shot another person, according to a separate account from FOX 2.
According to the Free Press, the victim was shot several times, and his condition was unknown as of Friday, per Lemerise. Witnesses described gunfire ringing out from the business entrance just after 2 p.m., the station's report states. The suspect, also in his 20s, was then attacked by people who were with the victim before he, too, was taken to a hospital.
Victim and Suspect Taken to Separate Hospitals
Both men ended up hospitalized and under guard, with their conditions unknown, per the same account. The victim and suspect were taken to separate hospitals following the shooting and the subsequent attack on the suspected shooter. It remains unclear what led up to the shooting, and whether the suspect and victim knew each other, according to WXYZ.
Accounts differ on how many people were actually struck by gunfire. FOX 2 reported that one person was injured by gunfire and the other was physically wounded after the shooting, while Audacy reported that two people were shot when the fight escalated to gunfire.
Multiple Departments Responded to the Scene
Madison Heights police were joined by officers from Troy, Ferndale and Hazel Park departments in responding to the shooting, and the public was asked to avoid the area. The Spirit Halloween location closed for the rest of Friday following the shooting, per the Free Press, just a day before Halloween itself. Whether the store would reopen for the holiday on Saturday was not addressed in available reporting.
