Off-duty Detroit cop killed after opening fire on colleagues while asking for suicide by cop
An off-duty Detroit police officer with 13 years in the department was shot and killed by his colleagues after he opened fire on two fellow cops dispatched to his suicide-in-progress.The suicidal officer, 45, was wearing his uniform and armed with a “high-powered rifle” when the two officers responded to a 911 call at his home.
When the responding officers arrived, he started firing into the air before turning the gun toward his colleagues and “asking for suicide by cop,” Detroit Police Chief James White said at a news conference Monday evening.The officers took cover behind their vehicle as the mentally ill cop shot the back of their car multiple times, White said.The off-duty officer shot one of his colleagues in the thigh and the other in the leg.
One of them fired back, fatally wounding the 45-year-old, according to the police chief.“Upon arrival, they hear gunshots.The suspect is identified as a member of our department.
He is a member of our special response team,” White said.“He is off duty.
He is threatening suicide.He is asking for suicide by cop.”Both of the responding officers are in stable condition following the shoot-out, White said.The suicidal officer had been working through a serious, physical “degenerative condition” that forced him to take time off.
He had only just returned to “full duty” service with the Detroit police department on Oct.3, White said.
The officer — whose name was not released — had no previous mental health issues, the chief added.He was part of the precinct’s special response team that is charged with handling some of Detroit’s most sensitive cases.“They go after the most violent perpetrators.
They go to barricaded gun people.They go to people who are barricaded in homes and in buildings, such as he was — active shooters,” White said.
“They are extraordinarily trained in what they do, and they get some of the best training that we have to offer.”Michigan State Police will be ha...