Detroit Police Chief: 'Enough Is Enough, It Needs To Stop' After Off-Duty Cop Critically Injured
DETROIT (WWJ) - An off-duty Detroit police officer was critically wounded after a shootout with an armed robber who was gunned down in the exchange of gunfire.
Officials say the 27-year-old officer was confronted in the parking lot of a liquor store around 11 p.m. Sunday at Chene and Gratiot roads on the east side when he pulled his gun and opened fire. The officer was struck in the torso and foot in that exchange.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig says this is happening too often.
"And this is since September, if my numbers are correct, we are probably at nine officers shot or killed, in the process of doing their job," said Craig. "Enough is enough, and it needs to stop."
Craig says surveillance video caught a second person arriving at the scene less than eight minutes later to retrieve the weapons from both men, which did not seem coincidental.
"A secondary suspect ... recovered a gun from the suspect who was deceased, and then from our officer -- this happened over a period of about seven to eight minutes."
The secondary suspect took both guns from the scene.
"That person came up, took his time, very deliberate, approached the downed suspect, touched him. And in my mind there was some relationship," said Craig.
The officer, who has not been named, has been on the force the past year and in the field six months -- he's listed in critical condition.