TRAVERSE CITY -- In July 1987, the then-wife of Michigan State Police Sgt. Melvin Holbrook turned his service weapon on him and fired two shots, an incident that preceded by two decades Holbrook's shooting death, allegedly by another wife.
Details of the 1987 shooting in Branch County emerged from police interviews and document searches during a probe of Joni Holbrook, who's accused of shooting Melvin Holbrook to death as he slept early Aug. 10. Melvin Holbrook was assigned to the Traverse City post at the time of his death.
His wife is being held in the Benzie County Jail on an open count of murder. Police believe she shot him with his service weapon in the couple's home in Benzie's Homestead Township.
Holbrook's preliminary examination, held to determine if there is enough evidence to send the case to trial, is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday.
Melvin Holbrook was not injured in the 1987 incident, and his then-wife, Starr Ann Holbrook, was not charged with a crime. Police investigating Holbrook's death contacted several former staffers at the state police post in Coldwater, where Holbrook, 53, served after graduating from police recruit school in 1986.
Retired troopers told of a July 23, 1987, incident in which Starr Ann Holbrook shot at him with a state police-issued gun as he arrived home from work. The couple was separated at the time, reports indicate, and Starr was at his Coldwater residence.
Melvin Holbrook arrived home shortly before 11 p.m., according to a supplement he filed with the original 1987 police report. As he was in the driveway emerging from his car, he saw his wife step outside with his service revolver.
She shot and hit the driveway seconds after he got back in his car and backed up, according to the report.
"The bullet from the handgun would have hit either the vehicle or me if I had not started backing from the driveway," Holbrook wrote.
She fired a second time as he drove away and headed back to the post to report the incident. He didn't request criminal charges, according to the report, and Branch County records don't show any charges.
Starr Holbrook recently acknowledged to a Benzie County Sheriff's investigator that she was involved in the incident, reports obtained by the Record-Eagle show.
Reports do not indicate a clear motive for the shooting, though Melvin Holbrook wrote that he recently had informed Starr he intended to divorce her.
A retired trooper told investigators "it was clear from statements made by (Melvin) Holbrook that his wife had become upset upon finding out" he had been dating another state police trooper.
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- Poll: Should MSP investigate Holbrook death?
- Lawyer: Joni Holbrook 'victim and survivor'
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