EDWARDSBURG, Mich. -- Residents in Edwardsburg are reacting after yesterday's house fire turned police shootout that left one person dead.
A frightening scene for those who live near Pine Lake Street and Harris Street, saying it's definitely not something they see often. It all started with a house fire on Davis Lake Street in Jefferson township around noon Wednesday. Neighbors told first responders an armed person was inside the burning home.
"I saw a police car come up through my front yard, another one comes up through the front yard, one goes through the other side of the yard and I come out, and the policeman says stay in the house," said Edward Gardner, Edwardsburg resident.
The Cass County sheriff's office says 46-year-old Tony Artusi of Edwardsburg ran from the home toward a field near Pine Lake Street and Harris Street. That's where he and police engaged in a shootout before he was ultimately shot and killed.
"I was coming out to get into my drivers ed car, and then I heard what sounded like a bunch of firecrackers, like a string of firecrackers, going really rapid and I didn't really think anything of it at first, and when I pulled up to the end of my driveway, there was a Cass County police squad blocking the road by my mailbox," said Gregory Jackson, Edwardsburg resident.
Artusi has a criminal history, including two counts of domestic violence, three counts of assaulting, resisting, or obstructing an officer, and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
All of those charges are from February of this year.
"I got a phone call from my mom saying that there was something going on, I was like what, what do you mean something's going on, nothing happens in this town. Not too long after that I took my dogs out, and that's what I heard an exchange of gunfire not too far away, and I had to quickly get my dogs back inside, and later on, I heard from friends that more gunfire had been exchanged later on, which is just crazy," said Tobias Melton, Edwardsburg resident.
This chaos resulted in Edwardsburg public schools going on lockdown for about an hour.
"This area is usually very quiet, it's always nice to be out here, I love living here in this area, it's so quiet like I said, the people are nice, there's usually not anything that happens that's crazy out here, there was a high speed chase a few weeks ago through here, that was pretty crazy, we don't see police out here very often," said Jaimie Moran, Edwardsburg resident.