New vehicle damage renews search for interstate shooter

Detectives searching for a possible interstate shooter are investigating two new reports of broken vehicle windows, police said Wednesday.

Calhoun County Sheriff Matt Saxton and Lt. James Coleman, commander of the Michigan State Police at Coldwater, said the incidents were reported Tuesday.

A driver of a delivery truck reported a window in his vehicle shattered on 12-Mile Road about 1 p.m. while another motorist said a passenger side window shattered while they were driving east on I-94 in Emmett Township.

The second incident was reported about 3:30 p.m.

The new reports come as detectives from the Major Crimes Task Force said last week they found evidence that only one vehicle was shot earlier in August and that no reports had been filed for almost two weeks.

Saxton and Coleman said the two new incidents are under investigation and officers have no evidence that the damage was caused by gunshots.

"We still don't know if this is from a firearm," Saxton said Wednesday.

Troopers investigated both incidents, Coleman said, and like the sheriff, said his officers have not determined a cause.

"We couldn't definitively say what caused them," Coleman said. "It could have been debris from the highway. There are no indications that would say this is a potential shooting."

But investigators said they can't explain why side or rear windows of vehicles are breaking.

"That is the whole phenomenon that we are scratching our heads about," Coleman said.

Last week Saxton said the task force confirmed that one vehicle was hit by a gunshot because lab personnel detected lead in a hole through a passenger side mirror on a pickup truck hit on I-94 on Aug. 19.

Saxton said damage to five other vehicles between Aug. 3 and Aug. 21 might have been caused by gunfire. No bullets were recovered in any of those cases. No injuries have been reported.

Saxton and Coleman said Wednesday officers converged along I-94 between Capital Avenue Southwest and Beadle Lake Road on Tuesday after noon in the area where the driver traveling east on the freeway reported the damage.

A search dog was used and officers walked the area for several hours and spoke with nearby residents.

Last week a State Police helicopter flew over the area searching for any possible location or explanation for any shootings but officials said then, as they did Wednesday, they don't know if someone is shooting at vehicles or even if the damage is from shooting.

"We can't say yesterday is from a firearm," Saxton said, "and we can't say it's not."

Contact Trace Christenson at 966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson.