Franklin Homicide Suspect Found Dead in Royal Oak

A Franklin man wanted in the death of a long-time Birmingham Public Schools teacher was found dead inside a home in Royal Oak following a stand-off with police that lasted for several hours Tuesday.

Authorities confirmed Thomas Ian Matthews, 33, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the bedroom of a home in 2200 block of Sprague Street. Members of the Southeast Oakland SWAT team found Matthews after a robot searched the home shortly before 3 p.m., a news release stated.

He reportedly arrived at the home shortly before 10 a.m. and refused to talk to police that responded there at the request of Franklin police investigating a homicide. Birmingham Public Schools Superintendent Daniel Nerad confirmed longtime West Maple Elementary School teacher Harry Berkowitz died Tuesday. The Franklin-Bingham Farms Police Department leads the ongoing investigation into his suspicious death.

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Officers closed off the area and evacuated nearby residents because they considered the man armed and dangerous. The Oakland County Tactical Team responded to the scene and deployed the remote-controlled robot after six hours.

Coping with the Loss

Berkowitz, 72, had nearly 47 years of service with Birmingham schools, most recently serving as a reading support teacher at West Maple Elementary School in Bloomfield Township. It was a full-time position where he worked with small groups of students, mostly fourth-graders.

Nerad said he visited West Maple, a K-5 school of about 600 students, at about 2 p.m. to inform staff. Nerad continued that families of current West Maple students have been notified and that the district is actively working to respond to needs of both students and staff.

"We have to let this school respond to the adult need as well as the children need in that building," Nerad said. "This is a hard thing for them to go through—young children in that building dealing with a long-standing teacher that worked with many of their siblings and touched the lives of a lot of kids."

Birmingham schools will send district psychologists to work with students at West Maple, Nerad said. The district also has an employee assistance program designed to provide help for Berkowitz's colleagues.