According to police, the officer was shot but is expected to fully recover. UPDATE: The suspect was shot and killed by officers in an exchange of gunfire. Read more here: Police: Suspect intended to 'ambush' officers in Kalamazoo shooting KALAMAZOO, Mich. - A Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officer was shot in downtown Kalamazoo Tuesday morning. Around 11:30 a.m. officers were dispatched to the 100 block of East Kalamazoo Avenue on reports of shots fired. According to the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety an officer was shot and injured, but expected to fully recover. He was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. According to Shakespeare's Pub, a restaurant in the area of the shooting, there was a heavy police presence in the area surrounding the Grifols Biomat USA plasma donation center. The restaurant stayed closed throughout the afternoon to protect employees and customers. "I saw people taking cover behind cars in the parking lot, and then more police show up," said Andrew Hageman, a bartender at Shakespeare's Pub. "It was pretty intense, a lot crazier than I’d expect on a normal Tuesday." Kalamazoo Gospel Mission was also placed on lock down during the incident. Pastor Joseph Anderson with Pastors on Patrol was at the scene of the shooting talking to people who were in the building and trying to console them. "There was a lot of crying and a lot of scared people, but I stayed there, I prayed with them and I went individually to everyone that was located on the bus just to talk them and try to calm them down," he said. "The ones that saw things going on, they were really shaken up." The City of Kalamazoo shut down Kalamazoo Avenue at Harrison Street to all traffic, although police say there is no active threat to the community. Circumstances surrounding the incident are still being investigated however there will be a press conference at 4 p.m. at the KDPS headquarters. 13 ON YOUR SIDE will bring you more information as it becomes available. ►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.<doc-sep>KALAMAZOO, MI — A police officer shot in Kalamazoo Tuesday was the first officer shot since the fatal shooting of Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officer Eric Zapata in 2011, according to the chief. A KDPS officer was shot Tuesday, March 12, after he and another officer responded to a business downtown Kalamazoo for a report of a shooting. In an exchange of gunfire, the officer was shot and the suspect was also fatally hit, KDPS said. Police said the suspect, who has not been identified by police, is dead. The suspect is approximately 30, Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Chief Karianne Thomas said. The officer was shot multiple times and all of the bullets hit his bulletproof vest, saving him, she said. The officer, who has not been named by police, was released from the hospital Tuesday. The incident marks the first time a police officer was shot in the city of Kalamazoo since 2011, when KDPS Officer Eric Zapata was shot and killed, Thomas said. Zapata, 35 and a 10-year veteran of the force, was shot after he and other officers were dispatched on a report of shots fired on April 9, 2011, in the 1400 block of Hays Park Avenue in Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood. Another officer approached suspect Leonard Statler, who was standing on a porch. Statler pulled a gun and exchanged gun fire with another officer, police have said. He then fled from the porch and ran in between houses, where he encountered Zapata and shot the officer in the head and chest with a long rifle, police said at the time. Zapata is the only Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officer ever killed in the line of duty. Tuesday’s incident was the first fatal shooting by police in the city of Kalamazoo in more than five years. In the most recent case, police went to an apartment at 103 W. Dutton St. on Feb. 7, 2014, looking for Brad Mason, who was wanted for an abduction and sexual assault. The 42-year-old pointed an Airsoft pistol at officers and refused their commands to drop the weapon before two officers opened fire. Kalamazoo County Prosecutor later determined that the officers in that case were left with “no option” but to use deadly force. In Tuesday’s shooting, the suspect was waiting by the door when officers arrived and ran inside the building, Thomas said. “It appears he entered the business with the intent to draw officers in and then ambushed” them, she said. “The officers did exactly as they were trained and should be commended for foll the training they were given foll all protocols and going into a situation that they knew there was an armed gunman,” Thomas said. The Michigan State Police will investigate the incident and the report will be forwarded to the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office for review. “These are young young officers out there and willing to do this work," she said. "We have difficulty finding officers. You all know that. We’ve been in the media saying that. This is an example and its also an example of the dedication the men and women have to this community.”<doc-sep>Associated Press Kalamazoo — Authorities say police fatally shot a man inside a plasma donation center in southwestern Michigan after he fired a gun and urged employees to call 911. A Kalamazoo officer was shot and injured Tuesday during a shootout with the man, but the injuries aren’t life-threatening. Public Safety Chief Karianne Thomas says the suspect’s goal was to “ambush” the officers. Thomas says the injured officer was saved by a bulletproof vest and the quick reaction of another officer, who fired multiple shots at the suspect. The dead man’s name hasn’t been released. Lisa Walterhouse, an employee at the downtown plasma center, says police responded after the man entered the building and fired shots. Walterhouse says the gunman told people to call 911. She says: “Then we ran.”<doc-sep>
Update: Employee killed after shooting at police inside Kalamazoo plasma center KALAMAZOO, MI — A Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officer was shot after responding to a report of shots fired at a downtown Kalamazoo business. His injuries are “non-life threatening,” the department said in a news release. There is no active threat to the community, police said. Officers responded to Grifols Biomat plasma donation center in the 100 block of East Kalamazoo Avenue at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 12. Police said the investigation is ongoing and that a press conference would be held at 4 p.m. A large police presence has forced the closure of East Kalamazoo Avenue. The incident began when a former employee came into the business and fired a shot into the air, said Grifols Biomat employee Lisa Walterhouse. “He shot one shot up in the air and told us to, 'Call 911, yea, call ‘em,’" Walterhouse said. “And then we ran.” Portage Department of Public Safety posted the following message on its Facebook page at 12:24 p.m. Tuesday: "Local Residents! Please avoid the area of Kalamazoo Ave. And Edwards in Downtown Kalamazoo. A KDPS officer has been shot and injured in an incident and we are awaiting updates in his condition. They’re is no current risk to the community from the suspect involved that we are aware of at this time." Responding to questions on the post, the public safety department posted a comment saying, “According to information received, the officer is expected to be okay." After the shooting, all lanes of East Kalamazoo Avenue were closed to traffic at Harrison Street, according to city officials. Shakespeare’s Pub announced on its Facebook page the business was temporarily closed as a result of the incident. Shortly after 3 p.m., the business posted on Facebook that Shakespeare’s and East Kalamazoo Avenue have both reopened.