Prosecutor denies charges in shooting that left 1 dead

EASTPOINTE — A man won’t be facing charges after an alleged road rage shooting that left one dead Sept. 30 in Eastpointe.

At approximately 7:51 p.m. Sept. 30, Eastpointe police officers were dispatched to the intersection of Stricker and David avenues for a shooting. When they arrived, they observed an 18-year-old man lying in the roadway with a gunshot wound, the department said in a post.

The man was declared deceased. Officers made contact with a 60-year-old man who told them he shot the man “in self-defense,” the post said.

According to the department, the incident was initiated by road rage on Eight Mile Road.

“Just like any other road rage, two vehicles, one was cutting the other one off, brake-checking, making gestures with their hand, and instead of going the opposite direction, this individual followed the other person, and that’s when this ultimately ended up happening,” said Eastpointe Detective Lt. Robert Koenigsmann. “Just a typical, somebody’s upset over somebody else’s driving.”

The incident, which was caught on a nearby Ring doorbell camera, showed the teen — who has been identified as Ty Hale — have an exchange with a 60-year-old man driving a Dodge Ram pickup before being shot and killed.

The driver of the truck was taken into custody. Charges were presented to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office several days later. The Prosecutor’s Office denied a request for a warrant.

Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said that, once all evidence, facts and information have been presented to his office’s major crimes unit, they look over it all to determine whether or not a warrant will be issued. If they don’t issue a warrant, it means that the case didn’t meet all the elements required for a crime, or it could be self-defense.

“It was denied as far as any charges, given the nature and circumstances of the information present,” he said.

Bill Amadeo, an Ann Arbor-based attorney representing Hale and his family, said the family is devastated.

“Ty was not a bad kid. His children, from what they can understand, are confused,” Amadeo said. “His mother, brother are devastated. This was a kid that was loved. … They’re at a loss, as anybody would be in this situation.”

Amadeo said he was shocked that the Prosecutor’s Office denied the charges so quickly.

“They could have studied it for a while,” he said. “From what we’re told, we have an unarmed kid that was shot and killed.”

Amadeo said civil litigation wasn’t a priority for the family; however, now they may pursue it “to get some kind of justice for Ty.”

Koenigsmann said anytime a driver is involved in a road rage incident, the best option is to avoid confrontation or call the police.

“Unfortunately, if these two had parted their ways and thought the better of it, this tragic incident wouldn’t have happened,” he said.