Grand Traverse deputies justified in fatally shooting a woman armed with a knife and cooking pot lid

The Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office said Neibert had multiple “violent” felony warrants and came at deputies with a knife and a cooking pot lid as they were trying to arrest her before the shooting.

The sheriff’s office said Neibert had threatened Missaukee County deputies and met them with “violent resistance” to multiple arrest attempts over the course of several days before the shooting.

On October 5, the Northern Michigan Mutual Aid Task Force Emergency Response Team and members of the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office responded to help assist in the arrest.

Neibert had a knife, according to the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office, and would not put it down despite orders from law enforcement.

ERT members used tasers, pepper balls, teargas and other “less lethal” options, according to the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office, but were unsuccessful.

As she approached officers with the knife and now the cooking lid, she was shot in the chest by Sergeant Sean Griffard, the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office said.

Even then, she still would not drop the knife, according to the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office.

She was eventually taken into custody and rushed to the hospital, but ultimately died on the way there, the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office said.

A Missaukee County Prosecutor has “preliminarily determined” the shooting was a justified use of force, according to the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office.