TEMPERANCE, Mich. -
A 46-year-old Toledo man is dead after a shooting early Saturday morning in Temperance. The Monroe County Sheriff's Office is calling it a homicide investigation.
Neighbor Roger Hoyt was startled when shots rang out at the Inverness Too Mobile Home Park off Lewis Avenue. "I was reading the paper and I heard bang, bang, bang! I said, might be some guy celebrating New Year's early. So it wasn't."
Many residents of the mobile home park heard shots, but that's not all they heard.
Jose Alvarez said, "I heard the girl saying don't hurt me, don't hurt me. Then the guy said, get in the house, get in the house."
Jose, along with his brother Tony Alvarez called the police and then went to find out was happening.
Tony Alvarez made a shocking discovery. "I went around the corner here where everything was taking place and there was a body laying there and then the other fellow that shot him was kinda running around. Just had sweatpants on. No shirt, no shoes. Had a cut on his shoulder blade area. He said he was cut. He said he was robbed."
Officials say the victim was dead in the roadway with multiple gunshot wounds and they're investigating it as a theft turned homicide.
Alvarez says by the time he made it outside, the woman they heard yelling was driving away. He says he saw a man with a gun coming out of the house.
"I noticed that the gun fell down and I grabbed the gun immediately, just thinking I better grab this just in case I got shot next."
Alvarez says he held onto the gun until police arrived.
Neighbor Tamara Belanga says it was all pretty scary. "Is it a random thing? Did it just happen to them. Hopefully they find out it's not random and they know the person who did it."
Police say 32-year-old Thomas was taken into custody for the shooting. Neighbors identified Wallace as the resident of the home. They say he was a nice man who kept to himself. Monroe County jail officials say he is being held on an open murder charge.
Investigators say several witnesses have been identified and questioned and the investigation is continuing.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office asks that anyone with information about this incident to contact Detective Jeff Smith at 734-240-7548 or 734-243-7070.
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