Police: Barricaded Man Threatens To Burn Down Detroit Apartment Building
DETROIT (WWJ) - Police are dealing with a barricaded man who they say is threatening to burn down a Southwest Detroit apartment building.
The situation unfolded late Monday morning when a 911 call came in about a 35-year-old man in the 8700 block of Vernor Hwy., in Springwells Village.
Detroit Police James Craig said the suspect's ex-girlfriend told dispatchers that the man may have cut his own wrists.
"Immediately we began to try to communicate with him, unsuccessfully," Craig told WWJ's Jason Scott and other reporters at the scene. "He made threats. He said, 'If you try to come in you're going to have to kill me." "He also threatened to do more harm than just the slashing of his wrists. He also threatened to burn this location down."
Craig said the suspect has "a violent history," suffers from mental illness, and that police have been called to the man's apartment before. They're proceeding with caution.
"Out of concern for the residents that live there, we evacuated the building as best we could. We don't think anyone else is in the building. They've been displaced and removed over to the Patton Recreation Center," the chief said.
Police remained on the scene late into the afternoon.
