Police

A fundraising effort is underway to purchase automated CPR machines for all EMS departments in St. Joseph County. Spearheaded by Jeff Brazo, a member of the Burr Oak Community Fire and Rescue Board, the fundraiser goal is $200,000 by Sept. 1. Brazo said automatic CPR machines can aid responders in performing consistent and effective CPR with fewer staff on site …

A 9-year-old boy died Thursday after being shot in Kalamazoo, authorities said. The child was pronounced dead at a Kalamazoo hospital on Thursday afternoon, Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Chief Vernon Coakley said. The child’s name and the circumstances leading to the shooting were not immediately released. Representatives from Pastors on Patrol, the Northside Ministerial Alliance and the NAACP were …

A high-lift was stolen Monday from a location on Blue School Road in Mottville Township. Sheriff Mark Lillywhite said deputies were notified shortly before 11 a.m. that the high-lift was taken off a flat-bed trailer parked in the 71000 block of Blue School Road. The 2019 Polaris RZR 1000 high-lifter that was black in color. The trailer it was on …

A Niles resident was injured in a two-vehicle collision Tuesday in Cass County’s Mason Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said deputies were called at 7:40 a.m. to the intersection of Cassopolis Road and Redfield Street in response to an accident with injuries. An initial investigation shows a southbound vehicle driven by Rebecca Geister, 42, of Niles, began to proceed through the …

Sheriff Richard J Behnke reports that on Sunday at approximately 1:37 p.m., deputies responded to a single crop duster aircraft crash around the 27000 block of Indian Lane near Cassopolis. The pilot, 68-year-old Ralph Edward Lutes of Shipshewana, was transported to Elkhart General Hospital for treatment of unknown injuries sustained in the crash. The plane was crop dusting a nearby …

A store in Mottville Township was robbed by an armed suspect earlier this week. Michigan State Police troopers were called at 9:30 p.m. Monday to investigate an incident at Dollar General, on U.S. 12 in Mottville. The suspect is described to be a white male, approximately 6’3” with a heavy-set build. The suspect vehicle is a Trailblazer, tan and gold …

A Sturgis woman was airlifted from the scene of a two-vehicle collision earlier this week in Florence Township. Sheriff Mark Lillywhite said deputies were called around 3 p.m. Wednesday to the intersection of Lutz and Dickinson roads. Investigators said a Ford pickup driven southbound on Lutz Rd by the 58-year-old Sturgis woman was struck by a Chevrolet SUV driven west …

A man accused of killing two neighbors in southwestern Michigan told police that he shot them because they were too loud, according to a court document. William Wolfe knocked at the apartment door and shot Virgil Walker, 49, and his wife, Kailey Walker, 30, “without warning,” a Kalamazoo County sheriff’s investigator said in an affidavit supporting murder charges last week. …

A northern Indiana man has been sentenced to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty for his role in the 2019 torture-slaying of a woman whose body was dumped in southern Michigan. An Elkhart County judge who sentenced Matthew Murzynski on Thursday ordered that the Elkhart man be incarcerated, for his own safety, in a different prison from two other …

Michigan State Police troopers are investigating a larceny from a motor vehicle that occurred around 5 p.m. Wednesday in Nottawa Township. The victim was mowing a field adjacent to Nottawa Road, near Wasepi Road. Authorities said the victim had parked her car at the edge of the field while her 13- and 11-year-old sons remained inside the vehicle. The suspect …