MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — New details have emerged about a deadly shooting involving two state police troopers Monday in Muskegon County. We now know the name of the suspect who was killed and more about the home that he is accused of breaking into.
Two neighbors that live close by said the area has never had any issues, but one of them said he wasn't surprised by what happened.
"My son called and told me something crazy was going on next door to my house, a shooting," said Ryan Klootwyk.
Klootwyk lives on Sugaridge Drive, next door to the home where a man had broken into and was subsequently shot and killed by two Michigan State Police troopers Monday afternoon. That man has now been identified as 37-year-old Joseph Christopher Miller of Muskegon.
"He came through my property to get to that house and broke the window back behind there," Klootwyk said, "and when I eventually pulled in, this place was just loaded with police, detectives and even a forensic van."
Klootwyk has lived in this cul-de-sac for 15 years and said there have never been any problems until now.
"But in all honesty, it didn't surprise me," he said, "because he sells guns out of that house."
Online records show the family that lives in the house that was broken into own an online gun and ammo business that is run out of the home called WildsSpiritOutdoors.com.
"I always thought from the day I found out guns were being sold out of that house there could be a possibility of bad things happening," said Klootwyk. "I'm all for the second amendment, but I am not for selling guns out of the house next door at the end of the cul-de-sac."
Another neighbor from just down the road, Nic Carothers, remembered being surprised by all the commotion.
"It was scary," he said, "and it was really an eye-opener."
Police responded to a 911 call from a young female resident who had barricaded herself in a locked bedroom at the home after an Miller broke into the house.
"Me and my daughter were outside splitting wood and we heard the sirens and looked up and saw a state trooper go flying by the house," said Carothers. "Five, ten minutes later we heard a gun shot."
According to police, when the troopers arrived, the suspect exited the home, pulled out a firearm, and was shot and killed by two troopers.
"It's just really an eerie kind of feeling, and like your privacy has been invaded," Carothers said. "We don't usually deal with stuff like this being out in the country, it's quiet. You can hear people cutting wood, shooting guns and riding dirt bikes."
13 ON YOUR SIDE did speak on the phone to the man who owns WildsSpiritOutdoors.com. out of the home, and he did not want to comment, but is working with the Michigan State Police on their investigation.
We are not releasing his name because he did not commit any crime.
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