For the second time in as many weeks, a Michiana police officer has fatally shot a suspect at the end of a high-speed pursuit.
Late Sunday morning, a St. Joseph County, Michigan Sheriff Department officer shot and killed 30-year-old David Algarin Jr. in a farm field after a vehicle chase. Sturgis police had been looking for Algarin since late Saturday night when they responded to a call of a possible shooting and a pedestrian that had been struck by a car.
Police found 39-year-old Stacey May Ramsey lying in the road after having been shot. She died on the way to the hospital. Witnesses said a man had returned to the scene and hit her with his car after shooting her.
Shortly later, as police looked for Algarin Jr. at the Sweet Lake Mobile Home Park on U.S. 12, they found 61-year-old Jerry Longacre had been fatally shot. Police did not say how Longacre was related to Algarin or Ramsey, and said they were still piecing together motives.
Police were unable to find Alagarin for the rest of Sunday morning until a license plate camera detected his car in Sturgis. St. Joseph County Michigan sheriff’s deputies located Algarin and began chasing him. Police said he had been threatening to kill more people and himself, before a sheriff department officer fatally shot him in a farm field when the chase stopped.
As is typical for an officer-involved shooting, the sheriff department has asked Michigan State Police to investigate.
Similarly, Indiana State Police are investigating the July 19 fatal shooting of Joshua Ringle, 32, of South Bend, by a Michigan State trooper in South Bend. The trooper had chased the man from Niles into South Bend before the suspect got out of his car and began running. He was found fatally shot near a St. Joseph River embankment.
