A police officer at a university in Detroit who was shot in the head while on patrol near campus has been released from surgery, and authorities have said they were interrogating a man about the attack.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Wayne State University officer Collin Rose, 29, was on duty around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when he radioed to say he was investigating possible thefts of navigation systems from cars and SUVs, and was about to speak to someone on a bike.
Officers who arrived on the scene found Rose injured on the ground, Craig said. He said Rose is a five-year veteran of the department who works in the canine unit.
Detroit Assistant Police Chief Steve Dolunt said “a person of interest” was in custody but that it wasn’t clear if he was the shooter. Dolunt said the officer was not shot with his own gun and that police were still looking for the weapon.
The university’s president, M. Roy Wilson, said Rose was recovering from surgery Tuesday night and that family members were with him, but that he still has a tough road ahead.
Shortly after the shooting, several dozen armed officers were engaged in a manhunt in the residential area of Woodbridge, within two blocks of the campus. According to a statement posted on the university’s website, police were searching for an African-American man in his 40s with a full beard. It said he was wearing a white T-shirt with white and black lettering, a skull cap and a brown jacket.
Police arrested the person of interest without incident about three blocks from where the shooting happened, Dolunt said.
The shootings of police officers in Texas and Missouri on Sunday were the latest in what law enforcement officials say is an alarming spike in ambush-style attacks. A San Antonio detective was fatally shot, and a St. Louis officer was shot twice in the face but survived. Police officers were also shot and injured during traffic stops in Sanibel, Florida, and Gladstone, Missouri, on Sunday night, but authorities have not suggested those were targeted attacks.
One-third of police officers shot to death on the job this year were purposely targeted by their assailant, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Wilson said police don’t have a motive for the shooting, or “whether it was an ambush or something different.” Citing the shootings Sunday, he said: “That’s something that’s crossed our minds.”
Wayne State has more than 27,000 students and is located in the heart of Detroit. Wilson said the school employs around 65 officers.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.Â
Myke Britt says
Why doesn’t the media publish the RACE of the cop shooters/killers? IT SEEMS MOST ARE BLACK!!
RJintheUSA says
Officers, please have back up before approaching a subject, your safety is my concern. Take a page from the military and watch your intervals. No more grouping and making yourselves easy targets for some half wit. Wait for back up, better to be safe than sorry, or worse, dead.
db says
Any person that if found guilty of shooting a cop should automatically receive the death penalty to be carried out in less than 6 months. The execution should be by public hanging until dead.
Richard Sabaski says
I totally agree
Alvin Brown says
I agree!!! Six days would work for Me!!
jose says
There is no reason to shoot a police officer. Those who shoot a police officer should fry in the electric chair. The police officer job is to protect the people from those animals who will kill for Pocket change so therefore if you kill a police office you should fry on that electric chair
Moehummit Leroy Goldberg says
Electric Bench. All of them at once
aw says
Is this the result of Media, Politicians, Obama, BLM, etc. hyped-up public display of opposition against Police Officers???? Any wrongdoing should have been handled professionally, and not accused, tried & convicted by the Media and the Protesters.
Media will hang you just to up their ratings.