13-Year-Old Girl Shot Four Times Called 911, Named Her Attacker. Five Others Died in Michigan Rampage.

A 13-year-old girl shot four times in a Friday rampage in rural Michigan managed to call 911 herself and identify the man who did it, according to Michigan State Police Lt. Ashley Miller. She's now the only survivor of a shooting spree that left five people dead across three locations in Missaukee County.

State police say the suspect, 39-year-old Chad Hickman of Lake City, was found dead Friday in a wooded area near Whitlock Lake, alongside the body of a 29-year-old woman. Investigators have not determined whether Hickman killed himself. An autopsy is pending, according to NBC News.

Troopers were dispatched around 11:40 a.m. Friday to a home on South LaChance Road in Lake Township after a report of a person shot, according to WXYZ. When they arrived, they found three people dead: a 45-year-old man, a 40-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy, and the wounded 13-year-old girl, who was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

Hickman had already fled before officers got there. Police say they identified him as the suspect almost immediately, though Miller declined to say how, according to NBC News.

A relative posting on Facebook identified two of the dead as Amanda Everitt, 40, and her 16-year-old son Eric. Her father, David Everitt, wrote that "this world just lost two beautiful people and one is clinging to life," and called the wounded girl a hero "who while shot 4 times still managed to call 911 and identify the shooter," as reported by NBC News. State police have not officially confirmed the relationships between victims.

The manhunt that followed involved K-9 units and several surrounding agencies, according to WXYZ. During the search, officers found a fourth victim, a 53-year-old man, dead at a second home in Missaukee County. A neighbor, Tim Penrose, told the Associated Press that Hickman lived at that address and that Hickman had "frequently harassed him and his wife," though Penrose gave no further detail. Penrose said he heard gunfire but didn't think much of it at first because he lives in a rural area where shots aren't unusual.

By Saturday, the girl's condition had improved from critical to stable, Michigan State Police confirmed, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Court records show Hickman was convicted in 2024 of misdemeanor fourth-degree child abuse and sentenced to a year in jail, the Associated Press reported. In that same case, felony assault and criminal sexual conduct charges against him were dismissed. It's unclear from available records whether that case involved any of Friday's victims, and police have not said whether Hickman knew the people he's accused of killing.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Friday she was "monitoring the situation," adding, "My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the Missaukee community," according to the Associated Press.

Missaukee County has roughly 15,000 residents. "This is a very small community, and this type of incident — and it obviously has rocked and crushed that community at this point," Miller told NBC News. "They're looking for answers, and they want to know why."

State police have not released the full names of all victims or confirmed how they were related to each other or to Hickman. The investigation, including into a motive, remains open. No charges are possible against Hickman now that he's dead, but investigators have not ruled out identifying additional evidence about what happened in the roughly 24 hours between the first 911 call and his body being found.