Prosecutor clears Traverse City police in fatal Munson Avenue shooting

Prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg said Traverse City police were justified when they used lethal force during a knife attack response at 426 Munson Place, apartment 202, closing the county’s main legal question while an internal review continues.

The call came in around 4:45 p.m. on March 13, 2026, after a woman told Grand Traverse County Central Dispatch that her boyfriend, later identified as Darnell Wilson, had attacked her with a knife. Dispatch also relayed that Wilson had self-inflicted knife wounds and injuries from the woman’s knife. The woman locked herself in a bathroom and gave police the front-door code so officers could get inside.

Four Traverse City police officers responded: Sgt. Reed Shea, Officer Bridget Rozanski, Officer Corey Bock and Officer Matthew Kirkey. Kirkey brought a trauma kit at Shea’s request, and the memo says the officers entered with their duty weapons drawn while Rozanski had her taser ready. The body-camera timeline included in Moeggenberg’s memo shows Wilson first appearing on the floor on his right side at 4:51:08 p.m. and the first shots being fired at 4:51:18 p.m.

Moeggenberg said she reviewed the Michigan State Police investigation, body-worn camera footage, the Traverse City Police Department’s use-of-force policy and Michigan self-defense law before reaching her conclusion. Police first tried less-lethal force with a taser, but it did not stop the confrontation. Officers then fired when Wilson advanced toward them and made contact with Rozanski. Wilson was pronounced dead at the scene after medical attention once the area was secured.

The woman who was attacked survived. Police later said she suffered lacerations and stab wounds, including one that caused serious internal injuries and required emergency surgery. By March 17, she was expected to be released from Munson Medical Center, and police said she was stable and expected to recover. No officers were injured.

All four officers were placed on paid administrative leave while Michigan State Police continued their investigation, and the department still faces an administrative review before the officers return to full active duty. That matters in a city police force led by Chief Matt Richmond, who took over on Oct. 22, 2023, and heads a department with 32 sworn officers, three civilian members and nine reserve officers.

The case also puts domestic-violence response under a sharper public lens. The prosecutor’s memo treated the incident as a domestic assault in progress, not a routine patrol call, and the timeline shows how quickly a knife attack inside an apartment can turn into a deadly encounter. Moeggenberg, who has served as Grand Traverse County prosecutor since December 2018 and has specialized in domestic violence and sexual assault cases for decades, gave that review added weight in a case that will shape how residents judge police response, officer training and the line between protection and deadly force.