DETROIT Four police officers were slightly wounded and their assailant killed on Sunday after a man walked into a police precinct and began shooting indiscriminately, a spokeswoman for the mayor said.
Karen Dumas, who is spokeswoman for Mayor Dave Bing, said the incident began about 4:30 p.m. when the man walked into the 6th Precinct in the northwestern part of the city and opened fire with a pistol grip shotgun. The man was able to shoot four officers before one or more officers returned fire, killing him.
The most seriously injured police officer was the precincts commander, Brian Davis, who was hit in the lower back, Ms. Dumas said. He underwent surgery at the nearby Sinai Grace Hospital on Sunday evening.
His condition is critical but he is expected to pull through, Ms. Dumas said.
Two other male officers were hospitalized but expected to be released on Monday. A female officer was hit in the chest but the bulletproof vest she was wearing prevented her from being injured. All four officers were expected to survive, according to a police official at the departments headquarters who was not authorized to speak to the media.
The police chief, Ralph Godbee, said that the police know the gunmans identify but did not release that information Sunday as they began to investigate his background and possible motive. It was unclear whether the gunman had previous contact with the precinct or was targeting any specific officers.
Chief Godbee described the scene as one of utter chaos and pandemonium. But he said the response by other officers prevented the outcome from being worse.
They did all the things that theyre trained to do under pressure. Were very blessed to stand before you with the belief that all four of the officers will be OK, he said at a news conference.
The police station is one of the Detroit Police Departments eight district offices. Members of the public who enter the station do not pass through metal detectors or otherwise undergo a security screening.
In light of Sundays events and the Jan. 8 shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that killed six people and wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords and others, Chief Godbee said, We have to take a step back and reassess security procedures at each one of our facilities. Incidents like this are very sobering and remind us how vulnerable we all are.
The shooting came at the end of a weekend in which at least 10 people were shot in Detroit in three separate incidents. Three men were found murdered in a house on Friday night, and three people were hospitalized Sunday morning after being shot outside a strip club.
Last Monday, a police officer in a Detroit suburb was killed by a suspect in a home burglary. The officer shot and the suspect each died after exchanged fire.
