More details emerge in Dennis Road shooting

By Lisa Enos. MCP Correspondent. 

AMBER TWP. — Authorities have confirmed that the weapon that former Mason County Eastern teacher William Marble was holding when he was shot by a Michigan Sate Police trooper Tuesday night was a semi automatic hand gun. According to 1st Lt. Kevin Leavitt, commanding officer of the Hart MSP post, dispatchers received more than one 911 call from the Marble residence, 1221 N. Dennis Rd. Tuesday night, but that the caller had hung up before dispatchers could get information. As is protocol two police officers, both from MSP, were dispatched to the scene.

“Policy is in a suspicious situation like that to always send backup,” Leavitt said.

The first trooper arrived and awaited the arrival of another trooper, who was nearby, before approaching the home. The two troopers then “made contact” with a woman at the residence who had allegedly made the calls, and were then confronted by Marble who was holding the gun. While Leavitt would not confirm the relationship between Marble and the woman, Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole said the woman’s name was Nancy and that she was Marble’s wife. Two deputies also arrived on the scene soon after the troopers.

“I don’t know the calibre,” said Leavitt, of the hand gun and indicated it had been taken into evidence. Leavitt also confirmed that there were only two people in the residence at the time the officers arrived and that the woman who they believed placed the 911 call lived there with Marble. Leavitt would not confirm whether the woman was Marble’s wife, nor if they were romantically involved, just that the officers believed they were responding to what they thought to be a domestic dispute.

“I can’t confirm that she is the one who initiated the 911 call. We believe she did but they are working to confirm that,” Leavitt said.

When confronted by Marble who was armed with the hand gun, one of the police officers  responded by firing one shot which struck Marble in the chest. According to Leavitt, authorities on scene then administered CPR. Marble was transported by Life EMS ambulance and died later at Spectrum Hospital in Ludington.

Leavitt said there is no video of the incident as “the camera in the patrol car was not focussed on the scene itself. However there was audio from the microphone the trooper was wearing,” Leavitt said, and the audio will be used in the investigation.

“We’ll compile all the reports from our agency and will include an autopsy and toxicology report. None of the troopers were injured. The trooper who fired the shot, as per policy, was placed on administrative leave,” he said.

One of Marble’s Facebook friends, who wished to remain anonymous, said she believed Marble had been living with a woman named Nancy Hunt. She was apparently transported away from the scene by Scottville Police Dept., which along with Ludington Police Dept., assisted.

“Once responders and law enforcement arrived at the scene, it was determined that the public was not in any danger,” said Leavitt. “So the investigators were able to slow down and do a proper investigation of the incident in timeline.”