TRAVERSE CITY —
A Lake Ann man involved in a shootout and standoff with police will head back to prison.
Grand Traverse County jurors on Wednesday found Parker Ayers guilty of two counts of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, a count of breaking and entering a building, a count of having firearm as a felon, a count of using a firearm during a felony and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.
Jurors convicted Ayers, 26, after deliberating for about seven hours. He's set to be sentenced on Feb. 21.
Grand Traverse sheriff's deputies on Sept. 23 responded at about 1 a.m. to an alarm at the Medicap Pharmacy off Chums Village Drive near Wuerfel Park. The deputies saw two suspects, Ayers and Whitney Marie Mcnett, and ordered them out of the building. Instead, Ayers pointed a gun and fired at deputies.
Neither deputy was injured.
The couple went into to a rear room in the pharmacy, and deputies called for help. About 25 area officers were on scene during the incident. Negotiators made contact with the suspects with a mobile phone, but the connection eventually was lost.
A small team of officers entered the building at 4:50 a.m. and found Ayers and Mcnett in an "incapacitated state" next to two empty bottles of methadone tablets, according to court records. Both were taken to the hospital.
Deputies also found three handguns and boxes of ammunition near the pair.
Grand Traverse County Undersheriff Nate Alger said deputies respond to crimes prepared for violence, even though it doesn't often happen in the area. But even with preparation, Alger said, being a shooter's target isn't easy.
"It does not take away the emotional and physiological impacts that being shot at has on a deputy," he said. "It's a very terrifying experience."
Alger said he and the deputies involved are disappointed Ayers wasn't convicted of the more serious offense of assault with intent to murder. Jurors are often given the option of convicting a defendant on a lesser charge, and they did so in this case.
"We believe he intended to kill our officers," Alger said.
Ayers was released from prison on Aug. 15 after serving nearly 27 months. He pleaded guilty in 2009 to delivering or manufacturing marijuana, possession of a firearm by a felon, and larceny from a motor vehicle.
Mcnett, 28, of Traverse City, will spend between 38 and 120 months behind bars after pleading guilty to breaking and entering a building with intent in October.
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Ayers
Jurors convict shootout suspect
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