Chad Hickman was identified as the shooter, who was among six dead, following a shooting spree across Missaukee County, Michigan on Friday, August 14.
The bodies were discovered across three locations in northern Michigan. Details about the victims have not been released to the public as authorities work on notifying their families first.
As per reports, the Michigan State Police troopers were dispatched around 11:40am to a home on South LaChance Road in Lake Township for a report of a person being shot. They found three dead and one in critical condition there.
The injured person was taken to the hospital and at that time, Hickman was identified as the suspect. Here's all you need to know about Chad Hickman.
Who was Chad Hickman?
Chad Hickman was a 39-year-old and was initially identified as ‘armed and dangerous’ by the Michigan State Police. He was a resident of the Lake City/Jennings area.
Cops had said that Hickman might have been in a white pickup truck with a discolored tailgate when he fled from authorities. A photo of Hickman was also shared and quickly went viral online.
{{/usCountry}}Cops had said that Hickman might have been in a white pickup truck with a discolored tailgate when he fled from authorities. A photo of Hickman was also shared and quickly went viral online.
{{/usCountry}}Hickman was seen wearing steel rimmed glasses in the photo and sported a beard and faint mustache.
The search for Chad Hickman
After the shooting at South LaChance Road in Lake Township, Hickman had fled the scene, which prompted a large scale search where cops used aviation and canine units.
During this time, they found another person dead in a home in Missaukee County, cops said, as per reports. Later, Hickman's vehicle was spotted near a wooded area which was close to Whitlock Lake in Caldwell Township.
Amid the ongoing search, Hickman was then located along with another dead person in a wooded area. Police are now working to determine what led to the shootings. The matter remains under investigation as the public has been urged to avoid the locations while investigators process the scenes.
What more to know about the Chad Hickman case
An independent crime reporting site, Channel2Now, posted more photos of Chad Hickman. HT.com traced these photos back to a Facebook account belonging to a Chad Hickman from Lake City, Michigan.
The Chad Hickman Facebook profile indicates that he divorced his wife, Katie around October last year. Hickman also posted a photo of a gun tattoo on his thigh. He also shared photos of him playing Halo, a shooter game.
However, HT.com could not verify if this is the same person as the shooting suspect.
An X post indicated Hickman had priors.
"Prior case (Missaukee County / Lake City, MI)
Court records reported in the Cadillac News (public record summary for Missaukee County 28th Circuit Court, September 20, 2024 proceedings) show:
• Chad Preston Hickman, of Lake City, pleaded guilty to:
• Fourth-degree child abuse → sentenced to 365 days in jail (with 1 day credit).
• Contributing to the delinquency of a minor / delivery of marijuana or mushrooms → sentenced to 90 days in jail (with 1 day credit).
• He was also ordered to pay $1,775 in fines.
Additional reporting tied to the current incident notes that in 2024 he faced multiple charges (described in one account as five felonies and three misdemeanors, including references to first-degree criminal sexual conduct, domestic violence, and child abuse). He ultimately pleaded guilty to the two misdemeanor counts listed above and was sentenced in September 2024 to essentially one year in jail on the child-abuse count. More serious counts appear to have been reduced or dismissed as part of the plea resolution (common in such cases)," the person wrote. However, this has come from an unverified profile and no mainstream reporting confirms this information yet. HT.com was unable to verify this information independently.