Police still searching for answers following The Cabin shooting

Mount Pleasant Police are still searching for answers after a fatal shooting at The Cabin on July 13.

“At this point, I’m not sure we will ever get a clear answer,” Jeff Browne, Mount Pleasant Police public information officer, said. “Detectives have been interviewing people, though.”

He said police are still attempting to acquire text messages sent and received that night by Justin Joel Luckhardt, 32, of Shepherd, after police said he entered The Cabin and shot to death Kim “Kemp” Lerene Luchie, 25, to death.

Police have said Luchie was shot after a case of mistaken identity by Luckhardt.

Kim "Kemp" Lerene Luchie (Photo Courtesy of Olivet College)

Luckhardt entered The Cabin bar at least three times during the evening and on the third time, at about 10:45 p.m. shot Luchie about six times, killing him, said Anthony Gomez-Mesquita, Mount Pleasant director of Public Safety.

He said officers do not see any evidence connecting the two. Luckhardt later shot himself after a police chase that ended when he crashed his car on Crawford Road near Millbrook Road.

“We do not have any information at this time that the suspect and the victim knew one another,” Gomez-Mesquita said. “We do know the suspect was having marital problems and that at The Cabin bar, within one of the booths were four individuals. These four individuals were friends and work associates. One of the females at the table was the suspect’s sister-in-law.”

He said police currently think the motive for the shooting was marital problems for the suspect as well as marital problems for the sister-in-law.

Luchie, a Grand Rapids resident, spent one season on the CMU football team’s practice squad after transferring from Olivet College for the 2005 season.

Gomez-Mesquita said when Luckhardt entered the bar before the shooting there was interaction between the four people at the table.

“In fact we think there was a photograph by a cell phone taken there,” he said. “Then (Luckhardt) left, he returned a short time later and once again left the bar, then came in. When he came in the third time he walked directly to the table and opened fire on the victim.”

He said Luchie was the only target and Luckhardt left in his car immediately after the shooting.

Gomez-Mesquita said Luckhardt brought a Glock semi -automatic .357 handgun into the bar with him but also had a SKS 7.62 x 39 caliber assault type weapon and two fully loaded magazines in his car, as well as a Kevlar vest.

He said currently police are operating under the assumption that Luckhardt had other plans after leaving The Cabin but it is still under investigation.

He said it is believed that alcohol was a factor for Luckhardt.

Fleeing from The Cabin

Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said county officers had responded to a call earlier when Luckhardt had struck a sign with his newer model white Nissan Maxima.

He said Luckhardt lost his rear-right door in the accident and an officer was just leaving the scene of the hit-and-run when the officer heard about a similar car speeding away from The Cabin.

The first responding officer spotted the vehicle and followed it until it crashed into a ditch on Crawford Road near Millbrook Road, Gomez-Mesquita said.

“He pursued it approximately two miles south on Crawford Road at which time there is a hairpin curve, the vehicle being pursued failed to negotiate that curve, went off the roadway and then crashed into a wooded area,” he said. “Officers also traveling at a high rate of speed needed to turn around as they had overshot the curve. When they positioned themselves to approach the vehicle, they found the suspect laying on the ground injured from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.”

The scene

Gomez-Mesquita said Luchie got immediate help after being shot because several off-duty, unarmed police officers from the Mount Pleasant Police Department were at The Cabin.

Daniel Goodar, 22, of Illinois, lays his head in his hands following a candlelight vigil in remembrance of Kim "Kemp" Luchie Wednesday night at The Cabin. Goodar knew Kemp through his brother, Nate Goodar, and has known Kemp for almost three years. "He never hurt nobody," Goodar said, "He was a good guy; got his head on straight. I just hope his family and his girl can stay strong through this." (Libby March/Photo Editor)

“As the incident unfolded they responded as we would expect our officers to respond, they administered aid to the victim and assisted in identification and pursuit of the suspect,” he said.

He said there were no other injuries to patrons inside The Cabin.

Lisa Kidder, a Cedar Springs senior, said she and her friend Jericca Lawwill, an Alto junior, had just entered the building from the patio and were about 5 to 10 feet away from where the shooting occurred.

“We booked it outside,” Kidder said.

Lawwill said at first she didn’t know what was going on as the shots were fired.

“It didn’t register,” she said.  “I thought it was fireworks, honestly.”

The aftermath

For family and friends the event brought grief and questions about that night.

Irv Sigler, former head football coach at Olivet College, said Luchie was a talented, positive person.

“He was just a guy that you loved to coach,” Sigler said. “He was fun to be around and made the world better.”

Luchie was remembered by hundreds with a candlelight vigil in front of The Cabin on July 14.

“He was one of the only people I knew who could walk without a care in the world ever,” said Luchie’s cousin Mike Inge, a Grand Rapids junior. “I’m going to miss him forever.”

-Senior Reporter Aaron McMann contributed to this report.