Mauriel Dashawn Hearn
PONTIAC — An Ann Arbor man accused of shooting and wounding a woman during a carjacking in Orion Township on May 19 is now facing multiple charges, including assault with intent to murder, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald charged Mauriel Dashawn Hearn, 25, with multiple charges stemming from a carjacking and shooting at the Baldwin Commons shopping center on Baldwin Road north of Brown Road.
During a press conference on May 20, Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Hearn was on probation for a previous offense, and that he should have been in jail, not loose on the streets.
Hearn was outside of Panera Bread in the Baldwin Commons when the woman, described as in her 40s, and her son exited the Old Navy store and made their way to their vehicle, Bouchard said. That’s when Hearn reportedly ran to confront the woman.
“He basically was a hunter waiting for prey to walk by,” Bouchard said. “You’ve got a situation where it appears a woman and her young son, child, were targeted for this very violent crime simply because they looked like easy victims, we’re guessing. This individual sat outside of the shopping mall watching and waiting and as soon as she got to the parking lot he ran, literally ran, around a car and then confronted her and her young child and shot her to take her car.”
Hearn allegedly demanded the woman’s car keys, then shot the woman in the hip dangerously close to a major artery, took her purse and fled the scene in her car, according to authorities.
The woman was transported to a local hospital, said Bouchard, who was at the scene and at the hospital.
“And the first words out of one of the nurse’s was ‘She’s lost a lot of blood.’ We’re lucky she’s alive. She’s stable but there’s still a very long road medically to figure out what exactly that will mean,” Bouchard said.
The woman’s son was not injured in the incident.
Charges
“The victims, a mother and her young child, should never have been placed in this dangerous situation because I believe this defendant should be behind bars for previous crimes,” said McDonald. “My priority is always public safety. As prosecutors, we have a responsibility to protect the public from violent individuals like the defendant in this case. If we lose sight of that, bad things can happen to good people. I look forward to working with law enforcement to hold this defendant accountable and protect our communities.”
Hearn is charged with carjacking and assault with intent to murder, both punishable by up to life in prison; fleeing a police officer, punishable by five years in prison and/or $5,000 fine; resisting a police officer, punishable by two years in prison and/or a $2,000 fine; carrying a concealed weapon, punishable by five years in prison and/or a $2,500 fine; and three counts of felony firearm punishable by two years in prison consecutive with any other sentence.
He was arraigned Friday morning in 52-3 District Court.
Investigating the incident
As soon as the call came in at approximately 5:43 p.m., Bouchard said law enforcement rushed to the area en masse and set up a perimeter and began searching for the stolen vehicle. He directed all resources to go toward finding the suspect, and a license plate reader indicated that the stolen vehicle was heading northbound.
Using FLOCK and information from OnStar, law enforcement located the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop in Groveland Township, about 17 miles away from where the shooting occurred. The suspect allegedly fled, at times reaching speeds over 100 miles per hour, and then hit a guardrail.
The suspect jumped out of the vehicle and was apprehended on foot by an undercover Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Auto Theft Unit detective in plain clothes and a plain vehicle, Bouchard said.
“He was so uncooperative he wouldn’t even tell us his name and that he’s on probation,” Bouchard said.
Authorities did recover the handgun and extra ammunition from the suspect, and the discharged bullet from the victim. Bouchard said they would conduct tests to tie the bullet to the handgun.
“That will all be part of our forensic
Bouchard said. “We’re also going to test that weapon to see if it’s involved in anything else. Intuitively, I don’t think this person is a one and done…there may be other crimes that he’s a participant in. Or maybe that gun has. So, we’re going to look into that.”
Suspect’s criminal past
“As we delved deeper into this we found that he was on probation,” Bouchard said.
The suspect is on probation in Washtenaw County for another incident that happened in December 2024 for unlawful imprisonment and assaulting a young woman, he said.
“The victim was a young woman and she was duct taped and hogtied to a bed by this person and briefly suffocated and threatened with sexual assault,” Bouchard said. “The police agency requested assault with intent to murder punishable by up to life (in prison). And unlawful imprisonment, which is punishable by up to 10 years.”
Bouchard said instead the prosecutor in the case charged the suspect with intent to do great bodily harm.
“That’s still a felony; I believe a 10-year felony. He gets two years’ probation. He’s currently on probation for hogtying a woman, duct taping her and suffocating her with a plastic bag over her head and he’s out on the street,” Bouchard said, adding he’s seen situations where there are people in the country and state who are out of prison and, in his opinion, should not be out on the streets.
He had harsh words for prosecutors who do not hold criminals accountable.
“And I think we’ve got another tragic example of that,” Bouchard said. “Which brings me to the conclusion that some of these prosecutors just have to do their damn job. You’ve got an individual that’s on the street for probation, no prison time.”
“It’s frustrating. It makes me mad that we have a victim (in Orion Township) that didn’t have to be a victim,” Bouchard said. “This person (Hearn) should have been behind bars, in my opinion, based on the charges he even pled to, and he’s on probation when he did this.”
Bouchard cautions citizens to be aware when out in public
If people are out in public Bouchard said they should always be aware of their surroundings.
“We encourage always situational awareness, to be aware of what’s around you, to notice things. If something feels off, listen to that little voice we all have and maybe go back in the store, or maybe call police. If it’s us, call us. If it’s another agency call your local police and say I’m feeling uneasy and here’s why: there’s a suspicious person,” Bouchard said.
“If something like that happens, it’s a ‘See something, Say something’ situation. We’d rather check out a hundred nothings than miss one real deal,” he said.