Men charged in fatal shooting of sheriff's deputy in Detroit

DETROIT -- Three 18-year-old men believed to be involved in an auto theft ring have been charged four months after the fatal shooting of a suburban sheriff's deputy who pursued a stolen SUV into Detroit.

Authorities say the man who shot Oakland County sheriff's Deputy Bradley J. Reckling on June 22 has been charged with murder of a police officer and conducting a criminal enterprise.

The other two also are charged with conducting a criminal enterprise and being accessories after the fact. All three men also face charges that include receiving and concealing stolen property, carrying concealed weapons and carjacking, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy told reporters Wednesday.

They were expected to be arraigned Thursday.

Reckling, a member of an auto theft task force, was on-duty and in an unmarked vehicle while following a Chevy Equinox reported stolen earlier on June 22 from a water park north of Detroit. He was shot in the head, chest and torso and later died at a hospital.

Three arrests were made after the shooting.

“This started off as a death of a peace officer but it turned into another enterprise as a result,” Worthy said. “This was a ring. This was something that touched a lot of cities and three counties.”

The ring is believed to have operated from November 2023 through June. Worthy said investigators from multiple agencies and offices spent more than four months working on the case.

“We worked to do this right,” she said.

Reckling was a nine-year veteran of the sheriff's office, was a married father of three with a fourth child on the way when he was killed, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said in June.

“It’s a gut punch when you lose someone in the line of duty,” Bouchard said Wednesday. “There can be no healing from a loss like this, but you learn to process it."