A 25-year-old Ann Arbor man has been charged in connection with a shooting and carjacking in Orion Township earlier this week.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said Mauriel Hearn is being charged with carjacking, assault with intent to murder, fleeing a police officer, resisting a police officer, carrying a concealed weapon and three counts of felony firearm.
It's expected that Hearn will be arraigned on Friday morning in Rochester Hills district court.
A woman in her 40s was shot and carjacked in broad daylight Tuesday outside a shopping plaza near Baldwin and I-75 in Orion Township, and Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard is speaking out about the suspect's criminal history — saying he never should have been free.
Watch Ruta Ulcinaite's video report:
Bouchard provided an update Wednesday, expressing frustration that the suspect was out on the streets. He pointed to a 2024 case out of Ypsilanti in which he says the same suspect was convicted of assault with intent to do great bodily harm but received only two years of probation.
"He's currently on probation for hog-tying a woman, duct-taping her, and suffocating her with a plastic bag over her head, and he's back out on the streets, saying no harm, no foul? Is that how the justice system works?" Bouchard said
We reached out to the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office regarding the 2024 case and provided the following response:
Our thoughts are with the victim of the horrific crime in Orion Township. We are grateful to law enforcement for their quick response and expect that the suspect will be held fully accountable.
As to the 2024 case handled by our office, the suspect pleaded guilty as charged to one count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and one count of assault and battery. At the time, he had no prior adult or juvenile record. No reduction in charges were given as part of his plea.
His sentence of probation in that case was consistent with Michigan's sentencing guidelines--which serve as a guide for courts to determine what an appropriate sentence would be in a felony case. In other words, the sentence he received was what he likely would have received even had he been found guilty at trial.
Shoppers and workers in the area say the suspect was acting suspiciously before the shooting, watching and waiting just outside the Panera Bread in the plaza.
Glen Venner was shopping at the time of the incident.
"I noticed him before I got out of the vehicle because he was all hooded up, it was so hot out, and he was in a fully dressed hoodie, he had a mask on, glasses," Venner said.
