Kochville Township, MI – A manhunt is underway for the fugitive who shot a veteran Saginaw Township police officer in the face on Tuesday morning.

Police believe 29-year-old Joshua Michael Rosebush, a wanted fugitive, opened fire on the police officer after he was stopped while driving a stolen pickup truck, WJRT reported.

Saginaw Township Police Officer Jeff Koenig was left in critical condition with gunshot wounds to his face and arm.

Doctors planned to have Officer Koenig airlifted to University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor on Tuesday afternoon for additional treatment of his wounds, according to WJRT.

Saginaw Township police Chief Don Pussehl said the shooting occurred at about 2 a.m. on Jan. 22 when Officer Koenig made a traffic stop on Tittabawassee between Fashion Square Boulevard and Bay Road in Kochville Township, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The officer, a 16-year veteran of the Saginaw Township police force, was approaching the stopped vehicle when the driver opened fire and shot the officer in the face and shoulders.

Then the driver fled the scene.

Chief Pussehl said that Officer Koenig was able to radio for help after he was shot, MLive reported.

“I’ve been shot!” Officer Koenig said in a dispatch recording. “I got shot in the face!”

Michigan State Police are running the investigation and tweeted that they were looking for Rosebush, who was at first believed to be driving a stolen 2013 Ford Super Duty truck.

They posted photos and said Rosebush should be considering “armed and dangerous.”

The truck, a stolen 2013 Ford Super Duty pickup with AIS Construction decals on the side, was recovered at the Home Depot in Flint Township, prompting authorities to warn citizens that the fugitive could be in the Flint area, WJRT reported.

Flint is located about 45 miles south of Saginaw Township.

A police tactical unit was seen staging and surrounding a house about one mile from where the truck was found at about noon on Tuesday, WJRT reported.

However, officials would not say whether the activity was related to the manhunt for Rosebush.

The Michigan Department of Corrections website had Rosebush listed as an “absconder from parole.”

He has two previous convictions for assaulting a police officer, three prior convictions for breaking and entering with intent, four prior convictions for stealing a financial transaction device, and one conviction for larceny from a motor vehicle, according to corrections department records.

Police were already looking for Rosebush in connection with a string of vehicle thefts and thefts from vehicles in Vassar on Jan. 3, WJRT reported.

The Tuscola County Sheriff’s Office warned residents of the Vassar area to be vigilant because Rosebush has associates there.

Schools in Saginaw and Clare County were operating in a “secure mode” as police continued to search for Rosebush nearby.

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