DETROIT – A 49-year-old Pontiac man died after a fight at General Motors’ Orion Assembly plant in Orion Township, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a news release Thursday.
A 48-year-old male co-worker is also in custody, the sheriff’s office said.
In a statement, Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Communications Officer Steve Huber said detectives will present the case to prosecutors on Friday for possible homicide charges. Also, the release stated that the suspect’s hometown is unknown, but the victim worked at the plant for about 7 months.
Detectives are withholding the victim’s name pending positive identification. An autopsy will be performed on Thursday.
All GM factories have security. In this case, the fight took place outside of production. The sheriff’s office confirmed that both men worked for a cleaning service hired by GM. GM hires vendors to perform such work, as well as some maintenance and distribution of parts to the assembly.
GM confirmed the plant was closed Thursday for an investigation.
“There was an altercation and we have detectives on the scene. It happened at 1:37 a.m. and there is no risk to the public,” Huber said Thursday.
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Huber described what happened in the next release:
Deputies arrived to find the victim “passed out and covered in blood.” He said CPR was performed, but deputies were unable to revive him. “It was found out that he died at the scene,” the report said.
Huber said in a statement that the suspect was found in a dock near the victim’s body.
The sheriff’s office did not know how long the suspect had worked at the plant.
Huber said in a statement: “The object used in the murder has been found. The incident and possible motives are being investigated.”
In a statement released Thursday, GM said it was working with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office “to investigate an altercation between two employees of a third-party service provider at Orion Assembly early Thursday morning. The incident resulted in the death of one of the individuals. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s family.”
GM said further details about the incident will be released by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
Flores said GM builds the Chevrolet Bolt and Bolt EUV, an all-electric SUV style vehicle, at Orion with a day shift that starts at 6 a.m. and runs until 2:30 p.m.
GM had just restarted production of the Bolt and Bolt EUV in April after being shut down for months. GM vacated the factory late last year so GM could focus on repairing defective batteries. Global recall of 2017-22 model year Bolts. About 140,000 vehicles are being recalled because they could catch fire. There were more than ten fires, but no one was injured.
When GM restarted the plant in April, Chevrolet leaders said after production increased Electric cars will achieve record sales has surpassed 24,000 Bolts this year. During the month of June, GM sold 7,303 Bolts. In the same period last year, GM had sold 20,288 units through June.
GM announced in January that it would Invests $7 billion in Michigan factoriesIncludes $4 billion to upgrade Orion to begin production of 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV. pick up
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