ALGOMA TOWNSHIP, MI — A 30-year-old man fatally shot after struggling with police had been released from the Kent County Jail just hours earlier.
Jonathan Sper was in the Kent County Jail on charges of defrauding an innkeeper and failing to identify himself to a police officer.
He was arrested Jan. 18 and released the afternoon of Jan. 24 after he pleaded guilty to two citations, records from the Kent County Jail and Grand Rapids District Court show.
Sper several hours later was involved in a domestic dispute with a brother at a home in the 4000 block of Summit Court NE.
Kent County sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and separated the two brothers. But Sper then began to fight with the deputies, police said.
A deputy was injured in the scuffle and shots were fired. Sper died at the scene.
The other brother was not injured.
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Kent County Sheriiff Larry Stelma said the injured deputy was not seriously hurt and had cuts and bruises.
Grand Rapids police said the Jan. 18 charges stemmed from a 2 a.m. incident at Z’s Bar & Restaurant, 168 Louis Campau Promenade.
Police said Sper walked out of the bar without paying for a $9.54 bill for water and cheese curds. Officers responded to the bar and tracked him down at Ionia Avenue and Louis Street NW.
At that time, Sper refused to identify himself to officers.
Grand Rapids police said they had one recent previous contact with Sper, in August 2016 when he reported a vehicle stolen.
