Employee shoots up Steve's Deli, takes own life

An employee of Steve's Deli in Bloomfield Township drove into the parking lot around 10 a.m. Sunday, October 2, and shot into the restaurant, striking a cashier, before fleeing the scene and ultimately taking his own life.

Bloomfield Township police report they responded to a shooting at the deli, located at 6646 Telegraph Road just south of Maple. The restaurant was open and an unknown number of customers and staff were present in the establishment when multiple shots came into the deli from a vehicle outside, shooting out the windows.

One long-time employee, a 52-year-old White female, who worked as a cashier, received a non-life threatening gun shot wound and is being treated at a local hospital.

Police report there were no other injuries inside, and the gunman never came into the deli.

“The suspect was known to employees as a fellow employee of Steve's Deli,” reported Nick Soley, Bloomfield Township Police Community Relations Officer.

Soley said the suspect then fled the scene.

Southfield Police were able to locate the suspect's vehicle and initiated a traffic stop at Outer Drive and Greenfield Road in Detroit. However, before police could make contact with the suspect, he took his own life.

The suspect, Ernest Connors, was a 52-year-old Black male from Detroit.

Bloomfield Township police do not yet know of a motive, and report the situation is still an active investigation.

Steve's Deli reopened for business on Monday just ahead of Yom Kippur on Tuesday-Wednesday, one of the most solemn of religious observances in the Jewish faith.