By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
TAYLOR — Police have identified the 55-year-old man who shot himself following a lengthy standoff with police as Jackson resident Michael James Parker.
Police Cmdr. Mary Sclabasi Wednesday confirmed the identity of the man who shot himself shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15 in an alley behind a strip mall in the 7800 block of Telegraph Road.
Sclabasi said the man’s daughter called police shortly before 5 p.m. to report that her father had a pistol and threatened suicide. Jackson recently received news of a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Responding officers spoke with Jackson for nearly an hour before he shot himself. Jackson was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The man was pretty despondent” Sclabassi said, adding that officers did an outstanding job trying to bring a safe ending to the story. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.”
(James Mitchell can be reached at [email protected])