Fatal shooting of Oakland County Sheriff Deputy Bradley Reckling: What we know

Oakland County Sheriff deputy Bradley Reckling was fatally shot in Detroit while following a lead on a stolen vehicle on Saturday night.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who called the encounter an "ambush," said Reckling's death has been soul crushing on the department, friends and family that now has to cope with his loss.

Here's what we know so far, based on a preliminary investigation by the Oakland County Sheriff's Office and Detroit Police Department, released during a news conference on Sunday by Bouchard.

More: $5,000 reward as Detroit police seek tips on fatal shooting of Oakland County deputy

Who was Deputy Reckling?

Deputy Bradley Reckling, 30, was a detective for the Oakland County Sheriff's Office who had recently transferred to the department's auto theft unit. He had worked for the sheriff's office for nine years.

Outside of work, he was husband to a loving wife and father to three daughters, aged 5, 4, and 1, with another baby on the way.

During the news conference on Sunday, the Rochester Hills substation commander, at which Reckling had been working extensively, said Reckling was one of the best and most hard-working deputies and detectives he'd ever worked with. He remembered when Reckling was still on Rochester Hills patrol, before he moved to the detective bureau, and he spent hours researching a vehicle after a robbery that many others thought was unsolvable, but Reckling found the vehicle and broke the case wide open.

Other accounts from coworkers remembered Reckling as an amazing cop but an even better husband, father and friend, who loved spending time outdoors fishing, hunting, raising animals and growing his farm.

What happened to Deputy Reckling?

Reckling was following a lead on a 2022 Chevy Equinox that was reported stolen between 1 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. from Red Oaks Waterpark in Madison Heights earlier in the day.

The lead took him and two other detectives into Detroit to look for the Equinox, although the three detectives drove separately, Reckling in an unmarked car which means no dashcam footage is available.

Reckling located the Equinox near Schoenherr and Park Grove streets on the city's east side and trailed behind it when the vehicle stopped and at least one of three individuals got out of the vehicle and began shooting at Reckling. Bouchard said it was an ambush.

“They were doing what they do, being good detectives running down a lead on a car that had recently been stolen and trying to locate it," Bouchard said during the news conference. "They do that every day, and lots of times they find a car abandoned and they call for a tow truck. This situation turned out not to be that at all.

Reckling was hit in the head, chest and elsewhere in the torso area. The call for a downed officer went out at 10:50 p.m., and shortly after, Detroit Police and Michigan State Police formed a perimeter around the area and arrested three suspects.

Reckling was rushed to a local hospital but succumbed to his injuries.

What's next?

The investigation into the suspects is being headed by the Detroit Police Department's Homicide Task Force. The department is asking that anyone with information pertaining to the crime please call Detroit's Homicide Task Force at 313-596-2260, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-Speak-Up, or submit a tip on DetroitRewards.tv. If a tip moves the case forward, the tipster will receive a $5,000 reward. Tipsters must include the case number 2406220359.

For now, Bouchard asks for prayers for both the department and Reckling's family, as well as donations to help financially support Reckling's wife and daughters in his absence.

All donations made to the sheriff office's charity, Mission Oakland, with the memo "Deputy Reckling" will go to Reckling's family. More information on how to donate can be found on the Oakland County Sheriff's Office Facebook page. A GoFundMe has also been created to support the family and can be accessed here.

Bouchard also emphasized the need for more mental health and crises debriefing resources for law enforcement, as Reckling's tragic death comes just one week after a gunman opened fire at families at a splash pad park in Rochester Hills, wounding nine people, including children, and over a year after the Michigan State University shooting, two and a half years after the Oxford school shooting, and more than six years after another Oakland County Sheriff's deputy was deliberately ran down and killed.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: What we know about fatal shooting of Oakland County Sheriff's deputy