Two suspects arrested after chase, shootout with trooper after a deadly carjacking in Monroe
By: The two men accused of a deadly carjacking in Monroe, Mich. have been indicted for alleged actions in Hancock Co.
Ronnie Oliver, 44, from Ann Arbor, and Stephen Jones, 29, from Monroe were indicted Tuesday. Both will face an assault on an officer charge. Jones was also indicted for fleeing an officer.
Charges are expected in Monroe County as well, but have yet to be issued.
Monroe police officers said Oliver and Jones were responsible for a robbery and carjacking that happened September 2 at the Highlander Market on East Front Street around 3:30 p.m.
Police caught them after a high-speed chase on Interstate 75 that began near Bowling Green and went past Findlay.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol reported that the suspects shot at officers multiple times during the chase. Troopers returned fire.
The chase started when troopers said they noticed the suspects at a rest stop near Bowling Green. OSHP said the suspects sped off onto I-75 South when troopers approached the truck. The pursuit ended on State Route 15 in Hancock County. Troopers said the suspects crashed the truck they stole from Monroe in a ditch as they were approaching Township Road 240.
Police said the pair initially refused verbal orders to get out of the truck. Oliver eventually got out and was arrested. He was taken to a local hospital as a precaution and eventually booked into the Hancock County jail on several felony charges.
The OSHP Special Response Team helped arrest Jones. He was flown to an area hospital for serious injuries. Monroe officials said Saturday night that he was shot, but didn’t provide further details.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation was asked to investigate the shooting, since troopers fired their guns. Investigators didn’t say how many troopers fired their guns or if they shot Jones.
No officers were hurt.
Monroe police asked the public for help identifying the suspects after the carjacking that happened in broad daylight. It left one man dead and another critically injured. Police were warning the public that the suspects were armed and dangerous.
Monroe Director of Public Safety Chad Tolstedt said the attack appeared random.
“Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to be just a simple carjacking. This seemed like an intent to kill and murder people, which is what we have preliminary, which makes this even scarier,” Tolstedt said. “These gentlemen did what they were supposed to do, they didn’t fight back, they were willing to give up the car. That’s what makes this so horrific.”
Tolstedt said the carjacking followed an armed robbery of the Highlander Market. Nobody was hurt in the robbery, but investigators said the suspects fired off a gunshot at a witness when they left the store. That witness wasn’t hurt.
The suspects then demanded both men sitting in a nearby blue Ford F-150 to get out of the truck before they shot them, police said.
Michael Ronald Beck Jr., 31, of Monroe, died at the scene. The 34-year-old man who was with him hasn’t been identified. Police said he was at a local hospital in critical condition Saturday.
Beck was a father of two young children and was engaged to be married, his relatives said at the scene.
“His babies will never be able to see him again,” his mother said. “My kid didn’t deserve this.”