Clark Lake Road murder suicide.

This home in the 5500 block of Clark Lake Road is where an apparent murder-suicide occurred. The home is seen on Saturday morning, Aug. 13, 2016. (J. Scott Park | Mlive.com)

(J. Scott Park)

NAPOLEON TWP., MI - One neighbor called a man suspected of killing his wife and himself "a little bit different."

Another neighbor was less polite. "He wasn't right," said Jim Thomas, who lives a couple houses away from the site of what police are treating as a murder-suicide.

"I didn't want nothing to do with that guy."

Police believe the man, a 62-year-old with some mental health issues, killed his wife, who is in her 70s, and then, refusing to be compliant with police, shot himself inside their home in the 5500 block of Clark Lake Road, Jackson County Sheriff Steve Rand said.

Jamie Lewis, another neighbor, said he heard a "pop" and a ricochet sound about 12:30 a.m. He said he later saw police carry a rifle outside of the house.

Lewis' mother, Patricia, said she saw the man come home with a shiny, presumably new, rifle about a month ago.

Thomas said he had heard gunfire coming from the direction of the man's house in the last three days.

Thomas' son went to school with the son of the 62-year-old's brother, who had once lived in a nearby, now-vacant house.

The brothers, part of a large family, had grown up in the house on Clark Lake Road, neighbors said. The 62-year-old inherited the house from his father, who died about six years ago.

They are "good people," said Roy Hatt, who lives on a farm down the road from the crime scene. "All pretty upstanding citizens."

The 62-year-old did not have problems when he was on his medication, Hatt said, but neighbors reported he did not always take his medication. He was said to have a severe psychological disorder.

He had married his wife within the past several years. She had cancer, one neighbor said.

Those who lived in the area seemed to know the 62-year-old far better than his wife. "Only seen her six or seven times," said Jamie Lewis, who had lived in his home for five years.

"It's kinda sad," Thomas said.

"Never met the woman. Never seen her one time."

The house on Saturday was quiet. The couple's two newer vehicles sat in the driveway. Windows on the north side of the house were broken.

The pair, whose names have not been released, shared their home, leasing the basement to tenants.

A woman and her teenage son lived there, a neighbor said, but were immediately moving. The woman called 911 Friday to report the woman had not been seen in a while.

Neighbors said there had been an unpleasant odor.

Napoleon Township police and county sheriff's deputies first went to the home about 4:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12, to check her welfare.

Police returned later Friday and, looking through high windows, spotted the woman face down in a hallway.

The man was moving around in the house. He was believed to pose a danger and a special response team made up of Jackson police and county sheriff's deputies responded.

Authorities tried for hours to convince the man to exit the house peacefully, but he was unresponsive. "Wouldn't come to the door or window or nothing," Patricia Lewis said.

Police believe he eventually shot himself on the main floor of the house.

"It was just a shame," Patricia Lewis said.

"You never know, I guess," her son added. "Who'd have (thought) this would happen in the country?"