Christopher Haxel, and Rachel Greco

Lansing

DELTA TWP. - David Lem Sprague decided early Sunday morning to give back a car he'd stolen from some acquaintances seven weeks earlier, police said, but first he wanted to buy some liquor.

A 36-year-old Lansing man and a 30-year-old man from DeWitt, told police Sprague showed up at their residence and offered to take them to the stolen vehicle. At about 3 a.m. the trio stopped at the Meijer on W. Saginaw Highway in Delta Township because Sprague wanted to purchase liquor. It's unclear whether he knew it was too late to do so.

While he was inside one of the men called 911 to say Sprague had a handgun. He gave police Sprague's name and a description of the truck.

What followed was a six-hour police search that brought in close to 70 officers, tracking dogs and a Michigan State Police helicopter. It ended when Sprague shot himself in the head inside a backyard shed. He died in the hospital at 8:24 p.m., according to his sister. He was 34.

When deputies arrived, Sprague — by then back in the truck — pointed the handgun at the driver and ordered him to not stop for police, Eaton County Undersheriff Jeffrey Cook said.

The truck drove west on Saginaw and then into the Lansing Mall parking lot, officials said, before pulling into an apartment complex north of the mall.

Sprague ran from the truck. Police in pursuit said he held a handgun to his head "and refused to stop or put the weapon down," the Eaton County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

As the chase continued to the wooded area on the the west side of Sharp Park, Sprague fired a shot in an unknown direction and deputies soon lost sight of him.

Katrina Sprague, David Sprague's sister, said she "can't really say what happened" to her brother.

"I don't think he was going to do anything to them," she said of the pickup's driver and passenger, who were freed when he abandoned the truck and were not injured. "They probably got scared, and it was really outside his control at that point."

Sprague believes her brother was still reeling from the death of their mother in August and that he was struggling with mental illness, including paranoia.

She said her brother spent 15 years in prison after a difficult childhood. He was released four years ago and lived in Lansing, Katrina Sprague said.

Once David Sprague fired the shot and ran into the woods, police said, they pulled back and set up a perimeter with assistance from other departments.

After tracking dogs and a Michigan State Police helicopter crew were unable to find him, dozens of officers from Eaton County and other area agencies began to search nearby neighborhoods.

At about 9 a.m., two Eaton County Sheriff's deputies found Sprague hiding in a shed at a house near the intersection of Riley Ridge and Stoney Point drives.

"Deputies then took up positions of containment as a negotiator was sent to their location," according to the release, "but Sprague shot himself with the handgun before the negotiator arrived."

Cook said that no law enforcement officers fired their weapons during the chase or the negotiations.

"He really never had a shot," Katrina Sprague said. "He never really got to experience a real life."

She was with him via a Skype connection from her home in Texas when he died. "I know he heard my voice," she said.

Contact Christopher Haxel at 517-377-1261 or chaxel@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisHaxel.