Police reports: Sniper shot man as he stood up holding fake bomb
BLUE LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Immediately after the standoff that ended when a Michigan State Police sniper shot and killed a man suspected of carrying a homemade bomb, they refused to specify what prompted them to open fire, saying only it was a “perceived threat.”
But more than 60 pages of state police reports obtained through the Freedom of Information Act tell slightly differing stories about the move that state police say Jonathan Jurecki made that led to his death.
Some troopers wrote that a state police Emergency Support Team member shot Jurecki when he started to stand up from the ditch in which he had lain face-down for four hours, still holding a bag containing a suspected bomb and a wire connected to his left wrist.
One trooper, viewing through binoculars from 100 yards away, wrote that Jurecki got up in an “aggressive manner and looked as if he was going to throw the bag at the armored vehicle. At that point I heard one single shot…”
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The armored vehicle had approached him during negotiations.
Jurecki, 44, had been making threats almost the entire time, according to state police reports.
Police say Jurecki’s mom had called police on May 25 to report her son was at the home they shared northeast of Whitehall and that she didn’t feel safe.
They say Jurecki was already under investigation for making threats with guns and bombs and that his mom had found suspected bomb components — cylinders wrapped together and wired — days before in the home. She had even taken pictures of them.
Police say Jurecki was a known methamphetamine user with a history of mental illness. He had talked of being a soldier for the “American continent” and previously claimed that police had kidnapped him.
His criminal history includes fleeing police and third-offense drunken driving. He was sentenced to two to 10 years for the drunk driving conviction and was released from prison in March 2023.
While state police were taking him to jail earlier this year for an assault with an ax, they say he threatened the prosecutor and judge and threatened to take over the court.
“Jonathan spoke about hanging and taking the tongues of public officials,” according to a report.
The day his mother called 911, state police spotted Jurecki not far from home on Nichols Road near Skeels Road at the Muskegon-Oceana county line.
He ran into the woods, then came out shirtless and in bare feet, carrying a gray cinch-sack or backpack above his head. When ordered at gunpoint by police, dropped face down into a ditch along Nichols Road, where he stayed for four hours.
Police say wires from the bag were wrapped around his left wrist and clenched in his fist. One trooper wrote that Jurecki also had what appeared to be a device with a short antenna in his right hand.
“I’ll blow us all up if you try taking me,” police quoted him as saying.
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They said they tried negotiating but that Jurecki responded with more threats and demanded to talk with the FBI.
State police called in their Emergency Support Team — the name they use for a SWAT team — and Bomb Squad.
Police said Jurecki frequently fell asleep and woke back up during negotiations.
During the standoff, police said they found dismantled electronics inside and outside his mother’s home, along with a battery and wire.
While other troopers stayed back, some rode up to Jurecki in a Bearcat armored vehicle.
More negotiations. A recorded message from his mother. More threats.
Troopers said they fired three volleys of less-than-lethal pepper balls aimed at his legs, arms and torso, but he still wouldn’t let go of the device. Instead, he rolled over. Still more threats.
“I’m going to kill us all,” he said, the police reports show.
Moments later, at 7:43 p.m. — four hours after the standoff began — Jurecki began to roll and “appeared to be trying to stand up while holding the device,” when a member of the EST fired a single sniper shot, hitting him in the head, according to the report from one trooper.
Another trooper wrote: “The suspect then rolled to his side and appeared to attempt to get up while holding the backpack, wires and suspected remote device. At that time, I heard one shot and watched the suspect fall back down.”
The sniper, not identified in the reports, fired the shot from the perimeter, though reports don’t say how far away he was.
Troopers said they had no choice. One wrote they were “all on the edge of the mandatory evacuation distance for a backpack sized device,” some about 60 yards away — close enough to keep him from running into nearby homes, which had been evacuated.
“We were not able to let Jurecki stand up and flee from his location,” one trooper wrote. “If this were to happen, we, as well as every person on scene or in the immediate area, were at risk of death or great bodily harm.
“The only way to stop this immediate threat would have been through the use of deadly force.”
The bomb squad later used robots to dismantle the device, finding an on-off switch, an electronic timer, and a cylinder labeled “Caution? Spring Loaded,” in English and German.
They cut open the cylinder and found it stuffed with rags, knit gloves and copper wire.
State police said the wire, switch, timer and cylinder are commonly used in improvised explosive devices.
But it was a hoax. No explosive material.
“The use of said components in a hoax device are meant to deceive someone into believing it is a real improvised explosive device,” state police wrote.
Investigators from the state police’s Fifth District in Paw Paw are investigating and will turn over their findings to the state Attorney General’s Office to determine if the shooting was justified.
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