Prosecutor clears Traverse City officers in March 13 shooting review

Traverse City officers acted within law and policy when they shot and killed Darnell Wilson during a domestic-violence call at 426 Munson Place, Grand Traverse County Prosecuting Attorney Noelle Moeggenberg said, closing the criminal review of the March 13 case. Wilson, 50, died after a confrontation that began when officers responded to reports of a knife assault inside the apartment.

The call left a 58-year-old woman stabbed and later treated at Munson Medical Center, where she was released days later. Four Traverse City Police Department officers responded, Sgt. Reed Shea, Officer Bridget Rozanski, Officer Corey Bock and Officer Matthew Kirkey, and the fatal encounter unfolded quickly, lasting about 30 seconds from the time officers entered the apartment. That short window now sits at the center of the public record in a case that has drawn intense local attention because it touched both domestic violence and police use of deadly force.

Moeggenberg said her review included Michigan State Police’s investigation, body-worn camera footage, the Traverse City Police Department’s use-of-force policy and Michigan law on self-defense and defense of others. Her conclusion was that the shooting was justified and that no criminal wrongdoing occurred. In her account, officers identified themselves, ordered Wilson to show his hands and drop the knife, and first tried to stop him with a Taser before firing when Wilson rushed toward them.

The prosecutor’s decision ends the criminal-review phase, but it does not end every layer of scrutiny. The Traverse City Police Department said it would conduct an internal review before the involved officers could be restored to full active duty, leaving the administrative side of the case still open. That next step matters because it will determine how the department evaluates the response, the tactics used and whether any policy changes follow.

For residents in Traverse City and across Grand Traverse County, the key facts are now fixed in the public record: a knife assault call at a Munson Place apartment, a woman seriously injured, a 50-year-old man killed, and a prosecutor who found the officers’ actions justified under state law and department policy. What remains is the quieter but important question of how the police department will assess the case internally and what, if anything, it changes about future crisis response.