Men charged in fatal shooting of deputy in Detroit

DETROIT– Three 18-year-old men, allegedly involved in a car theft, were charged four months later the fatal shooting of a sheriff’s deputy who chased a stolen SUV into Detroit.

Authorities say the man who shot Oakland County Sheriff’s Deputy Bradley J. Reckling on June 22 has been charged with murder of a police officer and conducting a criminal enterprise.

The other two are also accused of conducting a criminal enterprise and being accessories after the fact. All three men are also charged with receiving and concealing stolen property, carrying concealed weapons and carjacking, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy told reporters Wednesday.

They were to be arraigned on Thursday.

Reckling, a member of a car theft task force, was on duty and in an unmarked vehicle as he followed a Chevy Equinox that had previously been stolen on June 22 from a water park north of Detroit. He was shot in the head, chest and torso and later died in a hospital.

Three arrests were made after the shooting.

“This started out as the death of a peace officer, but it turned into a new business,” Worthy said. ‘This was a ring. This was something that affected many cities and three provinces.”

It is believed the ring was in use from November 2023 through June. Worthy said investigators from multiple agencies and offices worked on the case for more than four months.

“We did our best to get this right,” she said.

Reckling was a nine-year veteran of the sheriff’s office and was a married father of three children with a fourth child on the way when he was killed, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said in June.

“It’s a hard blow when you lose someone on duty,” Bouchard said Wednesday. “There can be no healing from a loss like this, but you learn to process it.”