UPDATE: 1 dead in mobile home fire following shooting
Posted: Jan 18, 2015 8:55 PM EST | Updated: Jan 23, 2015 12:37 AM EST
Residents in the Riverside Estates Mobile home park described the scene as complete chaos when they said a man started shooting at them, lit his mobile home on fire, and then shot himself.
One witness said it's a miracle that no one else was killed.
Christopher Chrissebring said, “My girlfriend told me it was gunshots, so we looked outside, and he was shooting through his door at trailers.”
During the fire Chrissebring said thousands of rounds of ammunition were exploding.
Michigan State Police are investigating and they said firefighters had trouble putting out the flames because of the ammunition that was going off. Investigators eventually recovered a body.
One teen said a bullet flew through her bedroom window and she feared for her life.
Alexis Heller said, “Me and my father, we got up and looked out the window, and a bullet went right between our heads, and it shattered my glass window.”
Heller said after that her family took refuge in a bath tub.
Heller said, “I thought I was dead at the moment, I couldn't hear anything, I just remember being laid on the floor, and I said duck down and just trying to save my life.”
Heller's mother, Melissa Dobrzykowski, showed ABC57 at least 7 bullet holes in her daughter's bedroom.
Dobrzykowski said, “She turned the light on, and they peeked through the blinds, and that's when the bullet came through the window and went right between their heads.”
On Sunday she cried and held her daughter as they looked at the scorched home across the street.
Dobrzykowski said, “I thought he was going to kick our door in and just kill us.”
She said she's not sure what his motive was. She took a video on her cell phone of the popping sounds.
Dobrzykowski said, “A few days ago, he started acting really weird, accused my husband of being a cop, said that he's heard helicopter over his house and stuff which none of us have heard... the only thing I know about this guy is that he is a 'doomsday prepper.'”
A friend who didn't want to be identified, said the man is Ted Lanser. Neighbors said Lanser would order 300 rounds of ammunition regularly.
Chrissebring said, “He said if he was going to go out, he was going to go out big, well I'd say he went out big.”
On Sunday night, police had not identified the body. Police said an autopsy will be performed in Grand Rapids on Tuesday.
One witness said it's a miracle that no one else was killed.
Christopher Chrissebring said, “My girlfriend told me it was gunshots, so we looked outside, and he was shooting through his door at trailers.”
During the fire Chrissebring said thousands of rounds of ammunition were exploding.
Michigan State Police are investigating and they said firefighters had trouble putting out the flames because of the ammunition that was going off. Investigators eventually recovered a body.
One teen said a bullet flew through her bedroom window and she feared for her life.
Alexis Heller said, “Me and my father, we got up and looked out the window, and a bullet went right between our heads, and it shattered my glass window.”
Heller said after that her family took refuge in a bath tub.
Heller said, “I thought I was dead at the moment, I couldn't hear anything, I just remember being laid on the floor, and I said duck down and just trying to save my life.”
Heller's mother, Melissa Dobrzykowski, showed ABC57 at least 7 bullet holes in her daughter's bedroom.
Dobrzykowski said, “She turned the light on, and they peeked through the blinds, and that's when the bullet came through the window and went right between their heads.”
On Sunday she cried and held her daughter as they looked at the scorched home across the street.
Dobrzykowski said, “I thought he was going to kick our door in and just kill us.”
She said she's not sure what his motive was. She took a video on her cell phone of the popping sounds.
Dobrzykowski said, “A few days ago, he started acting really weird, accused my husband of being a cop, said that he's heard helicopter over his house and stuff which none of us have heard... the only thing I know about this guy is that he is a 'doomsday prepper.'”
A friend who didn't want to be identified, said the man is Ted Lanser. Neighbors said Lanser would order 300 rounds of ammunition regularly.
Chrissebring said, “He said if he was going to go out, he was going to go out big, well I'd say he went out big.”
On Sunday night, police had not identified the body. Police said an autopsy will be performed in Grand Rapids on Tuesday.
