Police are searching for a man who apparently stole guns from both a dying suspect and an injured off-duty Detroit police officer after a robbery-turned-shoot-out Sunday night on the city’s east side, police said.
The 27-year-old officer, who was shot in the mid-torso and possibly the foot, is hospitalized in critical condition. At about 11 p.m., he was leaving Motor City Liquor at Gratiot and Chene when a man ran toward him with a gun extended.
“Looking at the (surveillance) video, (the officer) appropriately responded when faced with an immediate threat to his life,” Detroit Police Chief James Craig said in a Facebook Live video early this morning.
The Detroit Free Press said that the ensuing shoot-out left the officer and suspect both on the ground of the parking lot. A short time later, a man pulled up in a black sedan and, over about 7-8 minutes, touched the suspect before apparently taking the guns from both the suspect and officer.
This is the ninth police officer to be shot or killed in Detroit since September.
“Enough is enough,” Craig said. “It has to stop.”