An off-duty police officer who was shot and killed by a colleague on Monday had been seeking "suicide by cop," according to Detroit Police Chief James White. The chief said officers who responded to a 911 call about a suicide in progress Monday afternoon were confronted by the 45-year-old officer, who was in full uniform and armed with a high-powered rifle, the Detroit Free Press reports. White said the suicidal officer fired on officers as they took cover behind a vehicle, injuring one in the thigh and another in the leg. The officer was killed by an officer who returned fire.
White said the officer, a 13-year veteran of the force, was a member of the special response team, which deals with situations like barricaded gunmen, WXYZ reports. The chief said the officer had been on limited duty due to a degenerative medical condition, but he returned to full duty on Oct. 3. "We were hoping that things were moving in the right direction," White said. "He had the full support, he got the support he needed from the unit he was assigned to." The chief said the injured officers are in stable condition.
"He is threatening suicide, he is asking for suicide by cop," White said, per ABC News. "He is struggling with a mental crisis." The chief said the officer didn't have a history of mental health issues during his time on the force, but "we're not immune to mental crisis. We're just like everyone else—it affects everybody, including law enforcement." He said the officers who responded were heroes, the Free Press reports. "Once they recognized it was one of our own members, they still had to do their job and make sure that everyone else was safe," White said. (More Detroit stories.)
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