A routine marijuana check in Cass County, Michigan, turns deadly.

Michigan State Police say 51-year-old Niles Wilson shot himself when he realized he had been caught growing nearly 130 marijuana plants on his property.

Police estimate the value of his marijuana crop at roughly $195,000.

Several police agencies spent the day Monday investigating the area near Wilson's home on Jefferson Center Road.

Surrounding streets were blocked off for hours.

All of the day's events were a shock for police, but especially for Wilson's neighbors.

It started out with state police helicopters running a hemp operation. When they thought they discovered some fields near Wilson's home, they knocked on the door, but they never got to speak to Wilson.

It was a scene very few neighborhoods experience -- more than 130 marijuana plants dragged out of a home by police.

"I'm locking my doors tonight," said neighbor Larry Washburn.

Washburn prays that it is a scene he never experiences again -- police cars blocking the roads, a sound of a gunshot, and terrible news about a next-door neighbor he thought he knew for about 15 years.

"You don't know who lives next door to you anymore," says Washburn. "I never expected that of him."

He says there were never any signs of drugs at that house.

Michigan State Police say they saw a sign, though. That's why they knocked on Wilson's door.

"Usually, the officers can determine that marijuana is associated with the house by a trail -- there are hoses going to the marijuana for watering and things like that -- and that's what they observed in this case, and that's why they went to that particular house," explains Lieutenant Mike Brown.

That is when a shot was fired. Police say when they went back with a search warrant, they found Wilson had taken his own life.

"I would note that there was some indication from family history that we've obtained since the investigation began that he did have some history of depression which may have contributed to the tragic results," says Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz. "This is just another sober example that marijuana brings nothing but tragedy."

"It wasn't worth taking your life," says Washburn solemnly.

Fitz says Wilson was arrested in the 80's for running marijuana across state lines.