ALBION, Mich. — On Wednesday June 22 around 5:20 p.m., the Albion Police Department received a call from a mother worried about her adult son's well being.
“The mother contacted us about their son who they were concerned about because he had some mental health issues,” said Police Chief Scott Kipp. “He was taking medications possibly along with alcohol and had been threatening a cousin of his to kill him.”
Chief Kipp said the son, 42-year-old Jason Elliotte Dodds, was making threats toward his cousin stemming from a fight they’d gotten into a few weeks ago.
However, an hour later, police responded to a home on Eaton Street due to calls of a breaking and entering.
“Officers responded and arrived less than a minute later. When they got to the porch the inside door was open, they made entry into the house where the subject was at and his back was to the officers,” Chief Kipp said during an interview with FOX 17 on Thursday. “The officer saw the gun. [They] drew their gun. Ordered him to drop his gun. He turned and he started lift his arm and the officer fired two shots at him.”
Dodds later died.
READ MORE: Man dies following officer-involved shooting in Albion
Chief Kipp said all the officers with Albion PD are trained in crisis intervention. Two of the officers that responded were trained and one was new and in the field-training program.
“So, normally, our officers trained in crisis intervention are there to try to deescalate situations and work with people that are in crisis to get them the help that they need,” Chief Kipp said. “Obviously when an armed individual enters the house with intent to kill somebody, that kind of goes out the door because they have to do what they have to do to protect themselves and the people in the house.”
Chief Kipp said there were two children in the home. No one else was in the room when the shooting occurred.
FOX 17 reached out to the family for a comment, and are waiting to hear back.
The investigation is ongoing and is in the hands of Michigan State Police.
“We were trying to do whatever we could to stop this from occurring. But, it all happened very quickly,” Chief Kipp said. “Like I said, we were unable to locate the person. Obviously the family was doing what they could to help this person who had mental health issues. But they weren’t sure of his location. So, we weren’t able to locate him and then the worst thing that could’ve happened obviously happened.”
