By Dennis Romero
Five people were found dead in rural northern Michigan on Friday, state police said
A suspected gunman was also found dead, Michigan State Police said in a statement
Troopers responding to a late-morning report of a shooting found three people dead at a residence in the Missaukee County community of Lake Township, roughly 260 miles north-northwest of Detroit, police said
A fourth person was critically injured, they said
Police named Chad Hickman, 39, as a suspect and said he fled the scene. In their search for him, troopers found a fourth person dead at another residence in Missaukee County, they said
They also found the suspect’s vehicle near a wooded area close to Whitlock Lake in Caldwell Township. They eventually discovered Hickman and another person dead in the woods nearby, police said
The dead range in age from 16 to 45, state police said in an update Saturday
The injured person is a 13-year-old girl who was transported to a hospital in critical condition, and on Saturday she was stable, state police said
The first three people found dead were a 45-year-old man, a 40-year-old woman and 16-year-old boy, police said
They were located at aLake Township homewhere the 13-year-old was found shot, the agency said
Then a 53-year-old man was shot dead at another home, and when Hickman was later found dead, a 29-year-old woman was found dead with him, police said
State police did not publicly name any of the victims Saturday
It said investigators “have identified the five victims by age and gender though not by relationship to each other at this time.”
A possible motive in the shootings remains under investigation, state police said Saturday
“This situation is heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved,” Lt. Ashley Miller of the state police said in the statement Friday
