Family of 7 Lost Everything After KDPS Destroyed Their Home
A Kalamazoo family is now homeless after a bizarre chain of events lead to the Kalamazoo Police tearing their home down to the foundation.
(UPDATE: KDPS held a press conference to explain their tactics. That info can be found at the end of this article.)
Earlier this week an armed man wanted by the police took over the home of Andrea Young in Kalamazoo. The police were able to get the family out safely. The family of 7 lost their home and almost everything in it. Just hours after the standoff began, the house was torn to the ground with a large excavator.
The family had to beg to get the car out of the way before it was also destroyed according to the GoFundMe page created by a family friend,
They literally lost EVERYTHING except their vehicle which they had to beg to be moved before they pulled the rest of the house apart. They have no forms of identification, no car keys no family pictures everything was lost in this disaster.
By Tuesday evening, everything was gone. Nothing left of the home but rubble. Well, there was one thing left according to WWMT,
The family's cat Smokey crawled out of the rubble, more than 24 hours after the house was knocked down.
Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety chief Vernon Coakley and Kalamazoo County Sherriff Richard Fuller stand by their actions in the Thursday afternoon press conference.
The 16-hour standoff that resulted in the apparent suicide of the suspect and the destruction of a family home has left a lot of people questioning the tactics used by law enforcement in this incident. During that standoff, bullets flew through the area as a gunfight took place between law enforcement and the suspect. Many attempts to end the situation were unsuccessful including 50 rounds of tear gas. Coakley said that they had to put public safety before property in this situation. That lead to ripping the front of the house off in an attempt to reach the suspect.
Where does this leave the young family after they lost their home and all of their belongings to this crazy situation? We don't have specifics, but the City of Kalamazoo is helping out according to WWMT,
The City of Kalamazoo is helping the Young family replace the belongings they lost, and working to find them a new place to live. Coakley said the homeowner will be paid fair market value for what the house was worth before it was destroyed.
Family photos, identifications, and car keys are among the many things this family lost at no fault of their own. They did not know the man that invaded their home. If you would like to help out the Young family, please click here to donate to their GoFundMe.