DETROIT (AP) - A man suspected of at least a half-dozen slayings and other crimes in and around Detroit shot himself in the head while being pursued by police, authorities said Monday.
Kenyel Brown was in critical condition at a hospital, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said. He had been spotted by an adult bookstore clerk in Detroit. As police were using trained dogs to search for Brown, officers spotted him jumping fences in neighboring Oak Park, said the chief.
As police closed in on him in the backyard of an Oak Park home, officers heard a single gunshot and found Brown wounded, Craig said.
“The good news is no one else got hurt,. Certainly, this could have been a very tragic situation whether we had encountered him at the bookstore or if one of our officers had first,” Craig said.
Brown, 40, is suspected in six slayings overall in Detroit, Highland Park and River Rouge, Craig said. The first was Jan. 8 in River Rouge, with the most recent occurring Saturday in Detroit “over a drug argument,” he said. Brown also was accused of two carjackings in the city within 19 minutes of each other, Craig said.
“Our team worked literally around the clock,” Craig told reporters. “They knew this man was extremely dangerous in our community.”
Craig added that police believe others might have been working with Brown, so the investigation continues.
Wayne County prosecutors charged Brown with two counts of first-degree murder and other crimes in connection with the River Rouge incidents that left Dorian Patterson, 48, and Kimberly Green, 52, dead of multiple gunshot wounds. U.S. marshals also had been pursuing him.
Brown had previously served 10 years in prison for manslaughter, according to court records. He had been charged with second-degree murder and five vehicle-related felonies in 2000 but pleaded guilty in January 2001 to fleeing and eluding a police officer. The other three charges, including the murder count, were dropped the next month.
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