Shot Four Times, She Still Called 911: Inside Chad Hickman’s Michigan Shooting Spree That Left 5 Dead

**Content warning: This article discusses mass murder, child abuse allegations and domestic violence.

A quiet stretch of rural northern Michigan became the center of a massive police manhunt Friday after authorities say a gunman moved through multiple locations, leaving five people dead and a teenage girl seriously wounded.

But one of the most remarkable details to emerge from the Missaukee County shooting is what happened inside the first home.

A 13-year-old girl had reportedly been shot multiple times. Her mother and teenage brother were dead. Another man had also been killed.

Yet somehow, the wounded teenager managed to reach a phone.

She called 911.

And according to family members, she was able to identify the suspected shooter as 39-year-old Chad Hickman.

That call would help trigger an enormous search involving Michigan State Police tactical personnel, aircraft and canine teams as officers attempted to locate an armed and dangerous suspect moving through the heavily wooded area.

By the time the Michigan shooting spree ended, five victims were dead across three different locations.

Hickman was also dead.

And investigators were left with a sprawling crime scene, a surviving teenage witness and one enormous unanswered question:

Why?

As detectives work to reconstruct Hickman’s movements, court records are revealing that the suspected gunman already had a troubling history that included a recent child abuse conviction and allegations of domestic violence during a bitter divorce.

The emerging history does not yet explain the killings, and Michigan State Police have not publicly announced a motive. But it adds another disturbing layer to a case that has shaken one of the state’s small rural communities.

The Shooting Began at a Home on South LaChance Road

The violence was discovered at approximately 11:40 a.m. on Friday, August 14, when Michigan State Police troopers responded to a report that someone had been shot at a home on South LaChance Road in Lake Township.

What they found inside immediately transformed the call into a multiple-homicide investigation.

Police discovered three people dead:

1. a 45-year-old man,
2. a 40-year-old woman,
3. a 16-year-old boy.

A 13-year-old girl had also been shot and was rushed to a hospital in critical condition.

By Saturday, Michigan State Police said the girl had improved and was listed in stable condition.

The suspected gunman, identified by police as Chad Hickman, had already fled.

Authorities warned residents not to approach him, describing Hickman as armed and dangerous.

What followed was a large-scale search across the rural county involving the Michigan State Police Emergency Support Team along with aviation and canine units.

But while officers were searching for Hickman, investigators made another horrifying discovery.

There were more victims.

Bodies Were Found at Three Different Locations

During the search, police discovered a 53-year-old man dead inside a second Missaukee County home.

Investigators then located Hickman’s vehicle near a wooded area close to Whitlock Lake in Caldwell Township.

When officers searched the area, they found two more bodies.

One belonged to Hickman.

The other was a 29-year-old woman whom authorities consider the fifth victim in the shooting spree.

Michigan State Police later confirmed that the five victims died from gunshot wounds.

The scenes stretched across two homes and the wooded area around Whitlock Lake, forcing investigators to simultaneously process several locations and piece together a timeline of Hickman’s alleged movements.

“This situation is heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved,” Michigan State Police Lt. Ashley Miller said as detectives continued processing the scenes.

Police have said the investigation remains ongoing.

A 13-Year-Old Survivor May Have Helped Stop the Rampage

The only known surviving shooting victim has emerged as one of the most important witnesses in the entire investigation.

Family members have publicly identified the 13-year-old survivor as Bella Everitt.

Her grandfather, David Everitt, said Bella had been shot four times but still managed to call 911 and identify the person who attacked her family.

He called his granddaughter a “hero.”

Family members also identified the 40-year-old woman killed at the first house as Amanda Everitt and the 16-year-old boy as Amanda’s son, Eric.

Michigan State Police had not yet officially released the victims’ names as of Saturday afternoon, although authorities had released their ages and genders.

Bella was initially described as being in critical condition. Police later reported that she had stabilized.

If the family’s account of the 911 call is accurate, the wounded teenager managed to provide investigators with crucial information during an unimaginable situation.

She had just survived multiple gunshot wounds.

Her mother and brother were dead.

And yet she was still able to alert police and reportedly give them the name of the man they needed to find.

The call may ultimately become one of the most important pieces of evidence in reconstructing the Chad Hickman shooting timeline.

Police Have Not Announced a Motive

Despite the rapidly emerging details, investigators have not publicly established what caused the violence.

Police have also not officially explained how Hickman knew each victim.

That distinction matters because speculation has already begun circulating online about possible family connections between Hickman and some of those killed.

One neighbor told reporters that Hickman’s sister was among the victims, but when PEOPLE asked Michigan State Police about the claim Saturday, a spokesperson said the agency could not confirm it because of the complexity of the investigation.

Until authorities formally establish those relationships, claims about exactly why individual victims were targeted should be treated cautiously.

What investigators do know is that the shootings were spread across three locations and that Hickman apparently moved from the initial crime scene before his vehicle and body were located near Whitlock Lake.

Police have also not publicly explained the circumstances of Hickman’s death.

Although some reports have characterized the case as ending with the suspected gunman taking his own life, authorities had not confirmed a suicide determination in the latest information available Saturday.

That question will likely be answered through the medical examiner’s investigation.

Chad Hickman Had a Previous Child Abuse Conviction

As detectives investigate the killings, court records are providing a troubling picture of Hickman’s past.

Hickman was convicted in 2024 of misdemeanor fourth-degree child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The charges related to an alleged incident dating back to 2010.

That timeline is worth clarifying because early accounts of the case can make it sound as though the conviction occurred in 2010. The underlying allegations dated to that year, but court records indicate that Hickman pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2024.

He was sentenced to 365 days in county jail.

The same case initially included substantially more serious allegations.

Records cited by multiple news organizations show that Hickman had also faced charges that included assault with intent to do great bodily harm by strangulation and first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Those charges were later dismissed.

A dismissed criminal charge is not a conviction and does not establish that the accused committed the alleged offense. Hickman’s documented convictions in that case were the misdemeanor child abuse and delinquency counts.

His Marriage Was Described as Volatile

Hickman’s criminal history was not the only warning sign appearing in public records.

His former marriage had also become the subject of an extremely contentious divorce proceeding.

Hickman and his former wife, Katie, married in 2011 and separated in 2023 before their marriage was dissolved in 2025. Court records show the legal battle continued afterward, with another hearing reportedly scheduled for September 1, 2026.

In a written opinion connected to the divorce, Missaukee County Judge Melissa Ransom described a relationship marked by accusations of domestic violence.

“It is uncontested that this marriage involved allegations and incidents of domestic violence which lie at the heart of the issues before the court,” the judge wrote, according to reporting based on the court record.

Katie, who now reportedly uses the last name Frye, testified that the marriage had been characterized by control, coercion and fear.

Court documents described allegations involving physical violence, sexual assault and financial control.

But the judge’s opinion also noted testimony alleging violent or volatile behavior by both spouses, describing the relationship itself as deeply troubled.

Hickman denied his former wife’s accusations.

In a social media post reportedly made months before the shooting, he accused her of lying during their divorce proceedings and maintained that he had proved those accusations false in court.

None of the divorce allegations have been publicly identified by police as the motive for Friday’s killings.

A Neighbor Says Hickman Had Become “Extremely Aggressive”

Perhaps some of the most unsettling comments to emerge after the Lake Township shooting came from people who lived near Hickman.

Neighbor Tim Penrose described Hickman as increasingly aggressive and said he had experienced confrontations with him.

“He’s been extremely aggressive,” Penrose told reporters, alleging Hickman had come into the street on several occasions trying to start a fight.

After the killings, Penrose said he had expected Hickman’s anger to eventually result in some type of serious incident, although he never imagined violence on this scale.

Those recollections are now being viewed through the lens of what happened Friday.

However, aggressive behavior alone does not allow anyone to predict a mass killing. Most people who experience anger, relationship breakdowns or legal problems never commit violence.

Investigators will instead have to determine whether Hickman made threats, communicated intentions to anyone, acquired weapons for a specific purpose or left digital evidence revealing what he intended to do.

Phones, computers, text messages and social media accounts could become especially important as detectives search for a motive.

His Ex-Wife Says Authorities Failed to Stop Him

Following the shooting, Hickman’s former wife publicly criticized local authorities, arguing that officials had failed to adequately respond to his earlier conduct.

In a Facebook post reported by the New York Post, Katie Frye said she believed the Missaukee County justice system should be held accountable after Hickman was allowed to return to the community.

She referenced what she said Hickman had done to her and her children and argued that he had been able to continue tormenting the family after his release from jail.

Those are Frye’s allegations and opinions, not findings by Michigan State Police concerning responsibility for Friday’s murders.

But her comments are likely to intensify scrutiny of Hickman’s previous criminal case.

People examining the record will inevitably ask how prosecutors handled the felony charges that were dismissed, what evidence was available at the time and whether any court orders or supervision conditions existed after Hickman completed his sentence.

Those questions cannot be answered simply by looking at the tragedy that followed.

Prosecutors and judges are required to act on evidence legally available to them at the time, not on events that occur months or years later.

Still, when someone with a documented history of violence is later accused of killing five people, the earlier cases deserve careful examination.

Five Victims, One Survivor and a County in Shock

Missaukee County is a small rural community in northern Lower Michigan, roughly 170 miles northwest of Detroit.

The population is only around 15,000 people, making a crime involving this many deaths particularly devastating for a place where families, schools and neighborhoods are often closely connected.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she had been briefed on the shootings and was monitoring the situation.

“My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the Missaukee community,” Whitmer said Friday.

The shooting also came only weeks after another horrifying Michigan family massacre.

On July 24, authorities say a Grand Haven Township father killed his wife and six children before taking his own life and setting fires inside the family home.

The Missaukee County killings therefore became the second mass killing to strike Michigan in only a matter of weeks.

The circumstances of the two cases are unrelated based on everything investigators have publicly disclosed.

But the timing has added to the shock felt across the state.

What Investigators Still Need to Determine

Even with six people dead, including the suspected shooter, this investigation is far from finished.

Detectives still have several major questions to answer.

They need to determine Hickman’s relationship to each victim.

They need to establish the precise order of the shootings.

They need to understand why the 53-year-old man was killed at the second residence and why the 29-year-old woman was in the wooded area where Hickman was eventually found.

They must determine exactly how Hickman died.

And perhaps most importantly, investigators need to uncover what set the entire rampage in motion.

Michigan State Police have not announced that the shootings were random.

They also have not announced that they resulted from Hickman’s divorce, his previous criminal case, a family dispute or any other specific conflict.

Until investigators find evidence establishing that connection, assigning a motive would be speculation.

The 13-Year-Old Girl Who Refused to Give Up

Amid an almost incomprehensible amount of violence, one part of this story stands apart.

A 13-year-old girl survived.

According to her family, she survived being shot four times.

And instead of simply waiting and hoping someone eventually discovered the crime scene, she found the strength to call for help.

Her grandfather says she identified the shooter during that call.

That information may have allowed law enforcement to immediately know who they were searching for and warn the public that an armed suspect was at large.

Her condition also appears to be improving. Michigan State Police reported Saturday that the teenage survivor was stable.

For a family grieving the deaths of a mother and teenage son, that improvement offers one small piece of hopeful news.

There will undoubtedly be difficult days ahead.

The physical wounds are only part of what the surviving teenager must overcome. She also lost family members and survived a crime scene that would traumatize most adults.

Yet in the most terrifying moment imaginable, she managed to do something extraordinary.

She called 911.

The Warning Signs Will Be Debated for Years

Cases like the Chad Hickman Michigan shooting often leave communities looking backward.

People search court records.

They reread old social media posts.

Neighbors remember confrontations that seemed unsettling at the time but appear terrifying afterward.

Former partners revisit reports they made to police.

And eventually everyone asks some version of the same question:

Could this have been prevented?

Hickman had a child abuse conviction. His divorce proceedings contained serious domestic violence allegations. A neighbor described him as extremely aggressive. His former wife says she repeatedly feared him and now believes the system failed to protect people from him.

Those facts deserve examination.

But hindsight can also create a false sense that the future should have been obvious.

The important question is not simply whether warning signs existed. It is whether police, prosecutors, courts or people around Hickman possessed specific information indicating that he presented an imminent danger, and whether existing laws gave anyone the ability to intervene.

That will require far more investigation.

For now, five victims are dead.

A 13-year-old girl is recovering.

A suspected gunman is dead before he can explain his actions.

And investigators are trying to connect three separate crime scenes into one complete story.

The answers they uncover may determine whether this was an eruption of violence no one saw coming or the final chapter of a pattern that had been building for years.

What do you think investigators should examine most closely in the Chad Hickman case? Do his previous child abuse conviction, domestic violence allegations and reported aggressive behavior suggest warning signs that should have resulted in stronger intervention, or is it unfair to judge earlier decisions based on a tragedy no one knew would happen? Let us know what you think in the comments.