WARREN, Mich. – An armed man was arrested in Warren after allegedly crashing into a business, brandishing knives and threatening to kill customers and employees.
Police were able to tase the man and take him into custody.
Community members are struggling to believe what happened. Alwi Alzokiry, who owns a business next door to the 7-Eleven, said this is the first time he’s seen anything like it in Warren.
“You know why I open my business here? Because this area is safe and good,” Alzokiry said.
What we know:
It happened just before midnight on Friday, Dec. 27 at the 7-Eleven store on 12 Mile Road, near Schoenherr Road.
Police said Brian Steele, 46, drove his truck into the front of the store and began terrorizing customers and employees by brandishing knives and threatening to kill. The employees locked themselves in the back room until police arrived.
“It’s a nightmare scenario for any employee, any customer,” said Warren Police Lt. John Gajewski. “Listening to the 911 calls, you can’t help but feel for the people inside.”
When police arrived at the scene, officers reportedly found Steele armed with two knives, covered in blood, and bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. Police said he was cutting himself and was making threats to his girlfriend and those around him.
He allegedly refused to listen to police demands to drop the knives and reportedly told police to kill him. His girlfriend was able to get away from the situation at this point.
After attempting to convince him to drop the knives, another officer used a Taser on him, causing him to drop the knives and collapse.
"I have no doubt the officers, calmness, their de-escalation, their tactics absolutely contributed to this being a positive outcome,“ Gajewski said.
After being taken into custody, Steele was charged with assault with the intent to rob while armed, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of a building.
“He’s a career criminal,” Gajewski said. “He has a violent and dangerous criminal history, he’s got previous convictions for home invasion, sex offenses, larceny and was on parole at the time of the incident.”
His bond was set at $250,000.
