Justin Joel Luckhardt, 32, of Shepherd entered The Cabin bar at least three times during the evening and on the third time, at about 10:45 p.m. shot Luchie about six times, killing him, said Anthony Gomez-Mesquita, Mount Pleasant director of Public Safety.

He said officers do not see any evidence connecting the two at all. Luckhardt later shot himself after a police chase that ended when he crashed his car on Crawford Road near Millbrook Road.

“We do not have any information at this time that the suspect and the victim knew one another,” Gomez-Mesquita said. “We do know the suspect was having marital problems and that at The Cabin bar, within one of the booths were four individuals. These four individuals were friends and work associates. One of the females at the table was the suspect’s sister-in-law.”

He said police currently think part of the motive for the shooting was marital problems for the suspect as well as marital problems for the sister-in-law.

He said a off-duty Cabin employee was also sitting at the table.

Luchie, a Grand Rapids resident also known as “Kemp,” spent one season on the CMU football team’s practice squad after transferring from Olivet College for the 2005 season.

Gomez-Mesquita said when Luckhardt entered the bar before the shooting there was interaction between the four people at the table.

“In fact we think there was a photograph by a cell phone taken there,” he said. “Then (Luckhardt) left, he returned a short time later and once again left the bar, then came in. When he came in the third time he walked directly to the table and opened fire on the victim.”

He said Luchie was the only target and Luckhardt left immediately after shooting in his car.

Gomez-Mesquita said Luckhardt brought a Glock semi automatic 357 handgun into the bar with him but also had a SKS 7.62 x 39 caliber assault type weapon and two fully loaded magazines. He also had a Kevlar vest located in the car with him.

He said currently police are operating under the assumption that Luckhardt had other plans after leaving The Cabin but it is still under investigation.

He said it is believed that alcohol was a factor for Luckhardt.

Fleeing from The Cabin

Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said officers had responded to a call earlier when Luckhardt had struck a sign with his newer model white Nissan Maxima.

He said the Luckhardt lost his rear-right door in the accident and an officer was just leaving the scene of the hit-and-run when the officer heard about a similar car speeding away from The Cabin.

Gomez-Mesquita said the first responding officer spotted the vehicle and followed it until it crashed into a ditch on Crawford Road near Millbrook Road.

“He pursued it approximately two miles south on Crawford Road at which time there is a hairpin curve, the vehicle being pursued failed to negotiate that curve, went off the roadway and then crashed into a wooded area,” he said. “Officers also traveling at a high rate of speed needed to turn around as they had overshot the curve. When they positioned themselves to approach the vehicle, they found the suspect laying on the ground injured from a self-inflicted gun-shot wound to the head.”

The scene

Gomez-Mesquita said Luchie got immediate help after being shot because several off-duty, unarmed police officers from the Mount Pleasant Police Department were at The Cabin.

“As the incident unfolded they responded as we would expect our officers to respond, they administered aid to the victim and assisted in identification and pursuit of the suspect,” he said.

He said there were no other injuries to patrons inside The Cabin.

Lisa Kidder, a Cedar Springs senior, said she and her friend Jericca Lawwill had just entered the building from the patio and were about 5 to 10 feet away from where the shooting occurred.

“We booked it outside,” she said.

Lawwill said at first she didn’t know what was going on as the shots were fired.

“It didn’t register,” she said. “There were four loud shots, I thought it was fireworks, honestly.”

Other than the MPPD the Isabella County Sheriff’s Department, Michigan State Police, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribal Police Department and Central Michigan University Police all responded to the call.

The Isabella County Crisis Intervention Team as well as local chaplains are being used to assist witnesses during this process.