Suspect charged with shooting 2 state troopers claims he didn't know they were police

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Andre Hardaway surrendered to police last Friday after allegedly shooting two state troopers, then barricading himself with his wife – a paraplegic, and son inside.

"His son has been recorded on body camera telling his father that he told him to put the gun down, yet he did not do that," said Matthew Penney, assistant prosecuting attorney.

Hardaway, 56, was wanted on weapons charges – that’s what drew a law enforcement task force to execute a search warrant at his home on Outer Drive near the Southfield freeway on Detroit’s west side.

In court – Wednesday, during his arraignment - his attorney says it was a no-knock warrant, and Hardaway didn’t know they were police.

"Our contention is that Mr. Hardaway was fired upon and he fired in retaliation," said his attorney Darnell Barton.

But – body camera footage says otherwise.

"This was not in any way, shape, or form, a no-knock warrant," Penney said. "There were no fewer than seven warnings given that I could hear at various points during the entry - even before the door was breached."

Hardaway’s own wife admitted to investigators she knew police were there, with a warrant, Penney added.

"They were in full uniform that said state police right on the front of it, there could be no confusion on who was in that house and for what purpose they were there," he said.

The two Michigan State Police troopers were injured with one shot at least three times. One is a sergeant with MSP since – 2014, the other a trooper has been with the department since 2017.

They have been released from the hospital. Hardaway was also wounded in the gunfire exchange, but is okay.

"The allegations against Mr. Hardaway gives this court some concerns about the general safety of the community," said Magistrate Rodney Johnson, 36th District Court.

Johnson – set a very high cash bond of $850,000. Hardaway’s attorney says he would not be able to afford that, for now he’ll stay in custody. The high bond is also due to his priors – he has previous weapons charges from 2002 and back in 1989, escaping from prison.