Sergeant Dennis Warren Finch, 52, a 30-year veteran of the Traverse City Police Department, was killed after a standoff on Wellington Street. Officers spent more than an hour negotiating with a man who had armed himself with two rifles and two pistols on his porch. The situation turned deadly when the suspect opened fire with an AR-15 rifle, striking Sergeant Finch multiple times. Two fellow officers pulled Finch from the porch and he was taken to Munson Medical Center; he died the following morning.

The suspect, who was wounded during the initial exchange of gunfire, barricaded himself inside his house for about ten hours before surrendering. Sergeant Finch is survived by his wife, two daughters, a grandchild, his mother, and ten siblings. The law enforcement center housing the city police and the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Department was later named in his honor.

If anyone witnessed the standoff on Wellington Street or has information about that day, please come forward.