Deputy killed during traffic stop in Jefferson Township, suspect killed in shootout

Corey Murray
Updated ·3 min read
Law enforcement officers actively searched for a suspect who allegedly gunned down a Hillsdale County Sheriff's deputy Thursday during a traffic stop. The manhunt concluded hours later with a shootout between officers and the suspect resulting in the death of the suspected shooter.
Law enforcement officers actively searched for a suspect who allegedly gunned down a Hillsdale County Sheriff's deputy Thursday during a traffic stop. The manhunt concluded hours later with a shootout between officers and the suspect resulting in the death of the suspected shooter.

JEFFERSON TWP. — A Hillsdale County Sheriff's deputy was shot and killed during a traffic stop Thursday afternoon in Jefferson Township.

The incident happened on Beecher Road approximately two miles east of Osseo as deputies tried to arrest Eric Michael Fiddler, 34, of Litchfield on outstanding warrants.

That is when Fiddler produced a handgun and shot a sheriff’s deputy before fleeing on foot into a wooded area.

“There was another deputy on scene and they had taken the deputy and threw him in their car and took him to the hospital,” Lt. Rene Gonzalez, the Michigan State Police First District public information officer said. “Unfortunately, the deputy did not survive and he passed away.”

Law enforcement officers from every jurisdiction in Hillsdale County, officers from the Hudson Police Department, deputies from Jackson and Lenawee Counties and agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms joined the Michigan State Police in tracking the suspect through wooded areas and fields as he fled.

A resident on S. Osseo Road reported seeing a person matching the Fiddler’s description behind her home just south of the Osseo Road and Culbert Road intersection and authorities converged on the area hardening a perimeter.

Around 6:15 p.m., Fiddler was spotted walking through a field by members of the Michigan State Police Emergency Response Team.

“He (Fiddler) decided to exchange gunfire with our emergency services team and was killed,” Gonzalez said.

The First District Special Investigations Section was called in to process the first crime scene where the deputy was shot on Beecher Road just west of Lamb Road.

Gonzalez said the Fifth District Special Investigations Section was later called in to process the second crime scene where Fiddler was eventually located and died in an exchange of gunfire with the ERT team.

Authorities have yet to release the deputy’s name pending full notification of his family.

Gonzales said Fiddler was known to law enforcement and had a prior criminal history.

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Court records show Fiddler had a pending case in the 2B District Court for larceny under $200. In 2018 Fiddler served 30 days in jail for resisting arrest and use of narcotics. The narcotics case had been settled by plea bargain where more serious offenses of possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine and felony firearm were dismissed.

“Our police officers are out there and they do a hard job,” Gonzalez added. “We do have problems like any other family would, but a majority of us are out there doing a hard job. A hero gave his life today just trying to do his job. So there's a wife and they probably have kids. And he's not coming home.”

Here’s To You Pub & Grub announced on social media Thursday night that all proceeds raised Saturday would be donated to the deputy’s family.

— Contact Reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Deputy killed during traffic stop in Jefferson Township, suspect killed in shootout