Michigan detective ambushed and killed while pursuing stolen car in Detroit

Bradley Reckling, a sheriff’s deputy from Oakland County, Michigan, was ambushed and killed Saturday night while pursuing a stolen vehicle. He leaves behind his wife and three children.Oakland County, OH

In an attack described by authorities as an “ambush,” a nine-year veteran of the Oakland County (Michigan) Sheriff’s Office was fatally shot Saturday night while pursuing a stolen car in Detroit.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard called the loss of 30-year-old Deputy Bradley Reckling not just another tragedy for the department, but a gut punch in a series of gut punches over the past few years — including three mass shootings, one just a week ago — something “we obviously don’t want to talk about or ever have to deal with. But we have to.”

Bouchard described the events of Saturday night, saying that instead of giving up or running away, the stolen car suddenly stopped on the east side of the city, the Detroit News reports.

“The car suddenly stopped. The men got out of the stolen vehicle and opened fire on our deputy. It was an ambush,” Bouchard said.

The vehicle being tracked, a 2022 Chevrolet Equinox, belonged to a Rochester Hills resident and was stolen Saturday afternoon, Bouchard said. Reckling was one of three detectives from the bureau’s auto theft unit who searched for the vehicle in Detroit and found it before 10:50 p.m.

Detroit Police and Michigan State Police converged on the area. Police immediately cordoned off the area and arrested three people.

Reckling leaves behind his wife, Jacqueline, and children ages 5, 4 and 1, and his wife is expecting another child, Bouchard said.