Michigan state trooper shot at traffic stop dies during surgery

Michigan is in mourning as a state trooper who was shot in the head during a routine traffic stop Monday died during surgery.

The Detroit News reported that Trooper Paul Butterfield from the Hart Post was airlifted to a nearby hospital about 6:23 p.m. Monday after a driver saw him lying in the road near his police vehicle. Emergency surgeons couldn’t save him, and he died on the operating table.

The Daily Mail reported that Trooper Butterfield was in his 40s and engaged.

“Tonight we lost a hero,” said Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue, director of the Michigan State Police, in a statement reported by The News. “The entire MSP family, as well as our greater law enforcement family, mourns alongside the Butterfields. Trooper Butterfield’s sacrifice will never be forgotten. May he rest in peace.”

Police located the suspects about two hours later at a gas station down the road. Officers from other units responded, and gunfire was exchanged, the newspaper reported. One of the suspects was shot and taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The other was taken to jail for processing. The names of the suspects weren’t released, but one is a male and the other female.

Trooper Butterfield was an Army veteran who joined the state patrol in 1999.

Gov. Rick Snyder released a statement: “This senseless incident is a grim reminder that our brave public safety officers put their lives on the line every day when they go to work protecting Michiganders. They are heroes.”