A 43-year-old Michigan man, Sean Ernest Ruis, was shot and killed by a deputy sheriff today after approaching her with a knife he had used to stab a 77-year-old man with whom he had had an argument about a facemask in a store, the Lansing State Journal reports.
After being confronted by another shopper, Ruis was kicked out of the QD convenience store at 6:45 a.m. for not wearing a mask. Ruis then apparently approached the 77-year-old shopper in the parking lot, where Ruis stabbed him.
The victim, who is unidentified, was reported to be in stable condition at a local hospital.
Ruis then fled the scene. He attempted to drive home, but found an Eaton County sheriff’s deputies in his neighborhood searching for him. Ruis tried to speed away, at which time a deputy pulled the car over.
Ruis allegedly exited his vehicle and walked toward the deputy with the knife in his hand. The deputy retreated to put distance between herself and Ruis, whom she repeatedly ordered to drop the knife. As he continued to approach her, she fired her weapon.
The exchange was heard by a neighbor of Ruis.
Ruis was transported to a Lansing area hospital, where he died.
A hot mix asphalt lab services transportation technician for the Michigan Department of Transportation since 2008, the neighbor described Ruis as someone who was “quiet and kept to themselves.”