Second deputy shot and killed in Michigan this week – What we know

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP, Michigan. – On Thursday, June 27, a deputy sheriff was shot and killed during a traffic stop in south central Michigan. He was the second deputy in the state to be killed in the line of duty in less than a week.

The shooting occurred shortly after 2:15 p.m. in Jefferson Township – a community in Hillsdale County about 10 miles north of the Ohio border and about 20 miles south of Jackson. The suspect reportedly had an outstanding warrant and was known to local law enforcement when two Hillsdale County sheriffs initiated a traffic stop. Police said the suspect shot one of the officers attempting to arrest him and fled.

The other officer at the scene took the shot officer to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

After a four-hour manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies, police dogs and aerial teams, police located the suspected shooter – identified as Eric Michael Fiddler – in a field about two miles from the original crime scene.

Michigan State Police said they ordered Fiddler to surrender, but he instead fired at the officers, who returned fire. Fiddler died at the scene.

The Michigan State Police Fifth Precinct – which covers Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren counties – is investigating the shooting that left Fiddler dead, while the Michigan State Police First Precinct is investigating the shooting that left the deputy dead.

According to WILX, the slain Hillsdale County Sheriff Scott Hodshire deputy was identified as William Henry Butler Jr. He is the second sheriff’s deputy killed in the line of duty in Michigan within a week after Oakland County Deputy Bradley Reckling was fatally shot on Saturday, June 22.

Three people were arrested in connection with Reckling’s death.