http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/20852524/detail.html
Anti-Abortion Activist Shot Near School
No Students Injured
POSTED: Friday, September 11, 2009
UPDATED: 12:42 pm EDT September 11, 2009
<!--startindex-->OWOSSO, Mich. -- An anti-abortion activist was slain near Owosso High School Friday morning and another man was fatally shot at a business in a neighboring community in what police are calling related incidents.Julie Omer, business manager for Owosso Public Schools, said the shooting near the school took place around 7:20 a.m. Friday, and a suspect later was taken into custody.Omer said all Owosso district schools were locked down, but opened up again after the suspect was arrested.The man slain is identified as 63-year-old Jim Pouillon. He was reportedly holding up a photograph of an abortion, attempting to speak to Owosso High students, when he was shot four to 10 times, according to police.Pouillon is a well-known anti-abortion activist who has traveled across the state, carrying signs to support his cause, according to Owosso Police Chief Michael Compeau.Judy Climer, president of Flint Right to Life, described Pouillon to the Flint Journal as "just a nice, elderly gentleman who was disabled, used an oxygen tank and wore leg braces."Police said Pouillon was standing across the street from the school when he was shot.Compeau said it appears he was targeted by the shooter.Pouillon was involved in a pro-life free speech case several years ago after he was arrested for standing on city hall steps.Pouillon won the case after an appeals court judge said city hall was a public place and Pouillon was within his First Amendment right to protest abortion there.One parent who did not want her name to be released said, "He has never really bothered nobody."Pouillon staged abortion protests almost every day for more than ten years.The Missionaries to the Preborn sent out a release describing Pouillon as a "selfless, soft-spoken, kind-hearted man. All who knew him, knew this.""I would have never thought this would happen in our little hometown," said one parent. "Especially not in front of our kids."A witness gave police a license plate number and officers found the suspect at his home nearby."These kids are visibly shaken," said parent Deb Henry. "These kids are very upset."Henry said she was not happy that police were directing traffic into the parking lot and allowed students to continue to walk into the school after the shooting.The second victim was found at a nearby gravel pit on Busha Road near M-21 in Owossa Township.Compeau said while the suspect was in the police cruiser, he confessed to both shootings.Police said they do not believe the second victim, identified as 61-year-old Mike Fuosh, is affiliated with the anti-abortion cause, but do believe the two shootings are related. He was also shot several times.Fuoss is the owner of the gravel pit where police found his body.Owosso is about 25 miles west of Flint and 70 miles northwest of Detroit.
