Michigan troopers who fatally shot gunman in 2025 acted in self-defense, Attorney general's office says
The Michigan Department of Attorney General said troopers who fatally shot a 54-year-old man after he fired at law enforcement in Otisville last year acted in self-defense and defense of others.
Members of the state agency announced on Friday that it concluded its review of the shooting without issuing charges against the troopers involved.
On the afternoon of July 31, 2025, Michigan State Police troopers responded to a 911 call and met a woman near James Jennings' Otisville home. She told law enforcement Jennings had attacked her in his residence and that she had escaped, according to the agency.
Troopers called Jennings while he remained inside the home and attempted to persuade him to come outside. He refused, telling law enforcement he was "dug in" and "hunkered down," and that he wasn't going to jail or prison, officials said.
"Knowing Jennings had numerous firearms in the home, responding Troopers requested assistance from the MSP Emergency Support Team and established a security perimeter around Jennings' home," the Department of Attorney General said in a news release Friday.
Law enforcement continued to negotiate Jennings' surrender into the evening, deploying pepper balls and flash-bang devices in an attempt to get him to come outside, according to officials. He shot at troopers "four distinct times" before they returned fire, the agency said. The man was killed in an attic space of the residence, allegedly surrounded by multiple firearms and ammunition magazines.
"Numerous public bystanders were directly in Jennings' path of fire, and one of his shots entered a neighbor's occupied home, narrowly missing the resident inside," the news release said.
The agency reviewed reports by the Michigan State Police, signed statements from troopers at the scene, body camera footage, video footage from police vehicles and other materials.
Otisville, located in Genesee County, is around 72 miles northwest of Detroit.
