Montague Police Chief Robert Rought said the department received a dispatch to go to Montague Foods at 1:55 p.m. on Sept. 13 because employees reported the man told store personnel he was bleeding and may have been stabbed or shot.

While police were responding to the call, the man got into his white Chevrolet Blazer parked at the store and headed north on Water Street (BR-31).

A vehicle description and license number were given to police, but the officer could not verify an identity at the time, and an initial search of the area was not successful.

About 20 minutes later, Rought said Mercy Health Partners reported a man, who was intoxicated, came into the emergency room at the Muskegon facility for treatment of a wound to his back. The man also told them he may have been shot or stabbed. The hospital went on lockdown, and the Muskegon Police were called to the scene.

Rought said the man, who fit the description of the one who was earlier at Montague Foods, changed his story and told police he can’t remember what happened and he could have been shot or stabbed.

Rought said the man was living in a residence in the 7900 block of Cook St. in Montague at the time, and officers went to the address to investigate.

The Montague chief said another resident at that address said several people were partying the previous night, and one of them fell on the garage floor and cut his back on cut glass. They bandaged him, and in the morning he left the residence.

Rought said Montague Police later located the man in question at the Muskegon Rescue Mission, and he again said he couldn’t remember what happened and did not want to pursue and charges.

During the investigation, Rought said police did find a knife with blood on it in the garage.

The police chief said the man signed a release of his medical records, and the hospital report on Sept. 13 said the man had alcohol and THC, (a chemical in marihuana) in his blood. He was also treated for a puncture wound to the back.

Rought said police have video evidence of the man entering his vehicle at Montague Foods and leaving his vehicle at Mercy Hospital on Sherman Avenue in Muskegon on Sept. 13. He said his department has submitted paperwork to the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office requesting a warrant for the 24-year-old on a charge of operating while intoxicated.