Driver grabs rifle after crash, barricades himself on a Chili’s roof, Michigan cops say

A man fled to the roof of an Michigan Chili’s and fired a rifle Saturday following a car crash, police say.

Police responded to an intersection in Meridian Township around noon after reports that two cars had crashed, police said in a news release.

The 32-year-old driver of one of the cars exited his vehicle with a rifle, then “barricaded himself” atop a Chili’s restaurant in the parking lot of the Meridian Mall, according to police.

Officials negotiated with the man after locking down the area and moving people to safety, police said.

Bill Peters, who works at tinkrLAB in the mall, told the Lansing State Journal that the mall was locked down around 12:30 p.m. He said tinkrLAB workers dropped and locked the store’s gate, keeping several workers, customers and three children inside.

“It was definitely a scary situation for sure,” Kaylynn Kienutske, who also works at the mall, told the Journal.

At some point during the incident, the man fired his rifle, but police “did not return fire,” according to officials.

Police asked the man to drop his gun but he refused, prompting officials to shoot sponges at the man, WILX reported. He was ultimately arrested.

The incident lasted about an hour, according to the outlet.

The man was taken to an area hospital for treatment, police said. His name has not been released.

No one else was injured in the stand-off, and an investigation is ongoing.

Meridian Township is just east of Lansing, about 85 miles west of Detroit.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the incident occurred in Ohio.

This story was originally published December 13, 2020 at 8:13 AM with the headline "Driver grabs rifle after crash, barricades himself on a Chili’s roof, Michigan cops say."