Police capture suspect in killing of 2 at Detroit-area seniors complex

Gunfire broke out at the Lincoln Park Towers, a senior citizens high-rise in suburban Detroit

April 18, 2000
Web posted at: 2:57 p.m. EDT (1857 GMT)

LINCOLN PARK, Michigan (CNN) -- Police have captured a tenant at a senior citizens high-rise apartment building in suburban Detroit who authorities and eyewitnesses said shot two women to death and wounded at least three other people Tuesday after being called to a meeting to discuss other residents' complaints about his language.

Police said they captured the gunman on the 14th floor of the high-rise after he alluded authorities for more than three hours.

Earlier, police SWAT teams could be seen entering the building. Shots were heard coming from the upper floors of the high-rise. One witness told CNN affiliate WXYZ that he heard about 15 shots.

MESSAGE BOARD Detroit area shootings

A woman among the six people wounded was hospitalized in critical condition, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

A man who identified himself as the gunman's son told CNN affiliate WJBK that the suspect was 57 years old, had lived at the Lincoln Park Towers for about a year and had no history of violence.

"He's had some nervous problems (and was taking) nerve pills, but that's about all," said the man, who identified himself as Kenneth Miller, Jr. He was interviewed outside police headquarters in Lincoln Park.

Phyllis McLenon, deputy director of the Lincoln Park Housing Commission, said the gunman was armed with "a .22-(caliber) rifle and several other guns."

A witness describes the scene 107K/10 sec. AIFF or WAV sound

She told CNN affiliate WDIV that apartment officials had summoned the man to a meeting in a building adjacent to the high-rise after other residents complained of inappropriate language.

"He was very upset ... with some of the ladies who were complaining about him," McLenon said.

McLenon said the man left the meeting and was gone for about 10 minutes -- when the building's maintenance man reported on a two-way radio that the man was coming back shooting.

He shot one woman in the building office and another in the doorway, McLenon said. Some people ran to the bathroom or scrambled under a desk to hide. "He came in there looking for us," she said.

During the meeting before the shooting, McLenon said, the man "was very dissatisfied and making threats. ... he kept saying he wouldn't have this character assassination and that he would take care of it."

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