Police: Suspect in slaying of Sterling Heights officer kills himself

<p>A man suspected of killing a city police officer as he sat in his patrol car committed suicide early Sunday with the officer's gun as a law enforcement team led by U.S. Marshals closed in on him, authorities said.</p><p>Timothy W. Berner, 33, was found in Jacksonville, Fla., after authorities received a tip late Saturday by a viewer of the television program "America's Most Wanted" that he was in the area, police said.</p><p>Berner was accused of stalking police officers the night of June 4. Police said Berner shot Officer Mark Sawyers, 30, while he wrote an accident report in a Sterling Heights parking lot, took the officer's .40-caliber Glock handgun and fled in a 1994 red Camaro.</p><p>"(Berner) took his life using Mark's weapon, so in a sense he was delivered into our hands because Mark was probably there, hopefully helping to pull that trigger," Sterling Heights Police Chief Barnett Jones told reporters. "A coward's way for Mr. Berner, but it allows us to have some closure."</p><p>Federal officials said Berner wanted a smaller weapon than the shotgun they say he used to kill Sawyers to have a more easily concealable weapon to use in robberies. The FBI had linked Berner to several armed robberies this year in Michigan that took place before Sawyers was killed.</p><p>The circumstances that brought Berner to the Jacksonville home were under investigation Sunday. Police were trying to determine whether anyone helped Berner hide during the time since the slaying.</p><p>"There was a loss of another life ... but this is a good day for our community because we now can move to an area that may include some closure," Jones said.</p><p>A team of law enforcement officials participated in the raid at the two-story home on Jacksonville's south side, and police said two Sterling Heights detectives were in Florida assisting with the investigation.</p><p>Police said the team entered the home about 5 a.m. EDT and police heard a single gunshot from a second-floor bedroom. When authorities entered the room, police said Berner was found dead with a single gunshot wound to the head.</p><p>Sterling Heights Lt. Mike Reese said Berner met the woman living in the home about a week ago and had been staying with her. He had told her he was a construction worker on his way to Miami.</p><p>"It looks like she had no idea what he was involved with up here," Reese said. "At this point we have no reason to think she knew he was wanted."</p><p>The bullet that killed Berner also went through a wall of the home, striking a deputy marshal in the arm, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a news release, but the wound wasn't considered serious.</p><p>The team that conducted the raid included deputy marshals from the U.S. Marshals' North Florida Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team, the South Georgia Fugitive Squad and the Atlanta-based Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force as well authorities from Sterling Heights and the Jacksonville area.</p><p>Berner was the subject of an extensive manhunt. A state warrant for first-degree murder had been issued for Berner, whose last known address was in Macomb County's Clinton Township. And a federal warrant also had been issued.</p><p>Berner was added to the U.S. Marshals "15 Most Wanted" fugitive list July 1. The search for Berner had been featured on "America's Most Wanted" several times since Sawyers' slaying, prompting scores of tips.</p>