Sterling Heights

Man injured after allegedly shooting at wife, cop

By Cortney Casey
C & G Staff Writer

Steven Ray Scoggins

STERLING HEIGHTS — A man who allegedly emerged from a house on the city’s northwest side Aug. 31 and shot at his wife, then a police officer, sustained a graze wound to the head after the cop returned fire.

Steven Ray Scoggins, 61, was treated at Beaumont Hospital, Troy, before being booked at the Sterling Heights Police Department and transported to the Macomb County Jail.

An officer was sent to the 41900 block of Marold, just off of 18 1/2 Mile, between Ryan and Mound, to investigate a possible domestic dispute after a 911 call came in around 3:15 p.m., said Lt. Luke Riley of the Sterling Heights Police Department.

No one was communicating with the dispatcher, but “we can tell it’s an open line,” he said. “We can tell it’s an argument going on.”

As the officer pulled up, a woman ran out of the house, trailed by a man — later identified as Scoggins — armed with a gun, about 20-30 feet behind her, he said.

She ran across the yard, and “he raises a gun, fires one time at her,” said Riley. “He then turns toward the officer, fires a shot toward the officer. The officer returns fire, and (the suspect) goes down.”

Scoggins’ graze wound was not considered serious, said Riley, and the 55-year-old woman and the officer — who was working alone at the time, though backup was en route — were uninjured.

Riley said neighbors witnessed the incident; none of them were harmed, either.

Police have had contact with the occupants of the home in the past, “something along the same lines, family trouble,” said Riley. “They were married, and I don’t want to get into all their personal things. … They were married — I don’t know that he’d been staying at the residence.”

It appears Scoggins returned to the home to retrieve an unidentified object from a safe, but the wife suspected he wanted something else out of the safe and refused to open it, which may have led to the confrontation, said Riley.

Scoggins was arraigned via video before 41-A District Court’s Magistrate Michael Piatek on two counts of assault with intent to murder and two felony firearms charges Sept. 2, and was mandated to wear a tether if he posts his $500,000 cash/surety bond, said court officials. His preliminary exam is set for Sept. 13.

The officer who fired his weapon remains on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the incident.

“Any shooting, whether there’s injury or not, the officer would be put on administrative leave,” said Riley. “That’s just standard procedure.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Cortney Casey at ccasey@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1046.