OSSEO, Mich. (AP) — A sheriff’s deputy was fatally shot during a rural traffic stop, becoming the second Michigan deputy to be killed on the job in less than a week. Police said the suspect was later shot and killed when he exchanged gunfire with state troopers.
The Hillsdale County Sheriff’s deputy who was shot Thursday afternoon died at a hospital, Michigan State Police said. Sheriff Scott Hodshire identified the slain officer as Deputy William Henry Butler Jr., 51.
Butler “was a great police officer, a retired veteran of the Armed forces and a great friend to all,” the Hillsdale Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Sheriff Hodshire told WTVG-TV that Butler was married with five children.
The suspect, 34-year-old Eric Michael Fiddler, refused to identify himself during the traffic stop and fought with deputies trying to remove him from the car, police said, according to a MLive.com report. Fiddler pulled a handgun from his waistband, shot Butler and fled as deputies returned fire.
Fiddler ran into a nearby wooded area about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) east of the small community of Osseo, in southern Michigan, police said.
Following an hourslong manhunt, state troopers found Fiddler hiding in a field at about 6:15 p.m. more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from where the deputy was shot. He was ordered to surrender but instead fired at the troopers, who returned fire. Fiddler was pronounced dead at the scene, state police said in a post on the social platform X.
The driver of the vehicle, a 33-year-old man, was arrested on active warrants.
State police said in a post on X Thursday night that the agency was “heartbroken” by the death of the deputy, who became “the second police officer to be killed this week while serving the residents of Michigan.”
Oakland County Sheriff’s Deputy Bradley J. Reckling was fatally shot Saturday while pursuing a suspected stolen vehicle in Detroit. Detroit police have said three people were taken into custody.