Chad Hickman, 39, was found dead Friday in Missaukee County after a shooting rampage that left six people dead and one 13-year-old girl wounded. Authorities said he fled the first scene, then died during a large-scale search that moved across rural Missaukee County.
Police found the bodies of a 16-year-old boy, a 45-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman at the first home, about 170 miles northwest of Detroit. A 13-year-old girl was found in critical condition at the same home, and officers later found a 53-year-old man dead at a second home, then a 29-year-old woman dead alongside Hickman in the woods.
Missaukee County search
Michigan State Police Lt. Ashley Miller said, “This situation is heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved.” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said, “My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the Missaukee community.”
Tim Penrose, who lives on the street where the 53-year-old man was found dead, said Hickman lived in that home. Penrose said he heard shots but did not think much of it until police arrived. He also said Hickman frequently harassed him and his wife.
Chad Hickman case
Hickman had been convicted in 2024 of misdemeanor fourth-degree child abuse and sentenced to one year in jail. In that same case, felony assault and criminal sexual conduct charges were dismissed, a detail that stands apart from the 2026 shootings because authorities have not tied the earlier case to the deaths.
All six victims died of gunshot wounds, and Hickman was included among the dead. Miller said the investigation is ongoing, leaving the sequence of how he died and how the shootings unfolded as the central issue for investigators in Missaukee County.
The first home became the starting point for the case, but the search widened quickly after Hickman fled. What investigators establish next will depend on the physical evidence from the homes and the woods, along with the two surviving facts that already matter most to the Missaukee community: six dead, one girl wounded.
