Two women shot dead, cop wounded, suspect holed up in home

DETROIT -- Police say they're at a home where a gunman has been barricaded since late Sunday night, CBS Detroit reports. Two women have been killed and a Detroit police officer has been shot but is expected to recover, according to authorities.

There was no word on the relationship of the dead women to the suspect.

Police responded to reports of shots fired at the home at about 10:30 p.m.

When they arrived, they discovered three people had been shot.

Two women were taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital where they were pronounced dead.

A third victim, a police officer, had a gunshot wound to the leg and is expected to recover.

When officers arrived, someone opened fire. The gunman reportedly told police he "won't go down without a fight."

Detroit Assistant Police Chief Arnold Williams says the gunman has a history of mental illness. He also has seven guns registered under his name.

The gunman retreated to the home when police arrived and was still there mid-morning Monday, occasionally firing shots.

Police closed the surrounding area off to traffic and advised people in the area to stay in their homes or, if traveling, to avoid the area.

Compounding the situation — a person in a neighboring home also had a least one weapon and was threatening but not actively shooting.

The first suspect is known to officers.

"It just so happens that this person who suffers from a mental illness has weapons," says Williams.

He says these situations are becoming more common:

"This is one thing we always deal with this situation – these situations always revolve around someone with a mental illness that's either untreated or something that they're responsible for self-treating which they do not treat.

"Right now a lot of people may think that someone who suffers from mental illness may not affect them – but that's not the case. Anybody that suffers from a mental illness, who is not being treated, can basically resort to any type of violence and that violence is not necessarily directed toward a police officer – it can be directed at anyone in the community."