Woman shot by estranged husband filed for divorce, was denied PPO

Oakland County authorities have detained the suspected gunman in a Tuesday night shooting of two people in Brandon Township.

Michael Joseph Quigley, 34, was detained by the Oakland County Sheriff's Department at 5:20 p.m. Wednesday. Quigley, who is suspected of shooting two people, including his estranged wife, was on the lam all day. His unknown whereabouts, coupled with the fact that he was armed, led to three school districts closing for the day.

Tuesday night, investigators said, Quigley, 34, forced his way into a Brandon Township apartment where his wife was visiting a friend. He began arguing with both of them and then fired at least five rounds from a .22-caliber revolver.

One shot struck Stephanie Quigley in the back of the head while another struck her friend in the eye, investigators said. Both are listed in stable condition at a local hospital.

The friend's 3-year-old daughter was in the apartment but wasn't hurt, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

"After the shooting took place, Quigley fled the apartment, where he pointed the revolver at a neighbor who was outside after the incident," Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe said in a statement.

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McCabe said Quigley ran away. Investigators found his truck, out of gas, nearby. The manhunt for Quigley prompted school officials in Brandon Township, Clarkston and Oxford to close for the day as a precautionary measure.

Investigators said Quigley has no criminal convictions, but court records show a troubled marriage, including an attempt by Stephanie Quigley to obtain a Personal Protection Order saying her husband battled a drug problem and his "thought and logic doesn't make much sense right now.""Michael has a very bad history of drug use. ..." Stephanie Quigley wrote in a request for a personal protection order, listing Vicodin, Oxycontin, morphine and Adderall among the drugs he struggled with. "Michael is currently at St. Joe's hospital for threatening to take his own life."

Oakland County Circuit Judge Lisa Langton initially denied the protection order without a hearing, citing "insufficient factual allegations."

Langton did schedule a hearing for Thursday to give Quigley a chance to argue again for the order. Wednesday afternoon, Langton granted the request for a Personal Protection Order and canceled the hearing.

Langton, through a staffer, declined to discuss a pending case. Bob White, an attorney for Stephanie Quigley, said he doesn't fault Langton for her handling of the request.

"In the petition, you see that there are no mentions of threats to kill," White said. "Is there some credible evidence that that person is intending to commit physical harm? He was a risk to himself and a possible candidate for involuntary commitment, but for a PPO, they need to be a threat to others."

White said Michael Quigley's behavior became more dangerous in recent days with him stalking his wife, going to the home they had shared and knocking on windows, but those actions came after the initial request. Langton wouldn't have learned of them until the hearing.

White said he spoke today to Langton, whom he calls a "conscientious and decisive judge."

"She's mortified about what happened," White said. "She's a fine judge and she feels horrible it."

White said he also had been in touch with investigators and family members, who said that Stephanie Quigley was still in intensive care but getting stronger.

"From what I understand, right now, she's making progress, she's speaking," he said. White added that she was being removed from a ventilator and other life support measures that are no longer needed.

Personal Protection Orders are entered against people believed to be a threat to the person seeking the order.

In the request for the protection order, Stephanie Quigley wrote that family members were trying to get her husband committed for "mental instability and drug use."

She said that on Oct. 25, he broke into a relative's Clarkston home and stole Xanax and Adderall. She said the couple's four children were afraid of their father, who screamed at them and called them "(expletive) stupid."

Stephanie Quigley wrote that her husband came to her home Oct. 29, threatened to kill himself, lunged at her "asking why I was ending it?" When she backed away from him, he said, "But I love you and you are all I know and have."

She also wrote: "Michael made a shrine of pictures of me and him, the kids and the animals, all up the walls and all over the floor," noting her mother found the shrine in an upstairs bedroom.

Quigley had already informed her husband that she was seeking a divorce and she filed it a week later. The case is pending.

Contact John Wisely: 248-858-2262 or jwisely@freepress.com. On Twitter @jwisely