Mich. university officer shot off campus while on duty, university says

DETROIT -- A Wayne State University police officer who was shot in the head Tuesday evening while on patrol near campus has been released from surgery, and authorities said they are interrogating a man about the attack.

The officer was identified as 29-year-old Colin Rose, a five-year veteran of the department who works in the canine unit. Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Rose was on duty when he radioed to say he was investigating possible thefts of navigation systems from cars and SUVs, and was about to speak to someone apparently on a bike.

MPS reporting on Twitter that they had a person of interest in custody Tuesday evening, CBS Detroit reports. Michigan State Police released a photo of a person of interest in the case, Deangelo Davis.

Authorities told CBS Detroit that the officer was shot in the head after stopping a person on a bike. 

“It was boom, boom, boom,” Jacob Bolton, 20, who lives nearby, said in an interview later. “I heard some gunshots and I heard somebody hollering. But at first I thought I was dreaming.”

Officers who arrived on the scene found the officer injured on the ground, Craig said.

Shortly after the shooting, which occurred around 6:30 p.m., several dozen armed officers were seen in the residential area of Woodbridge within two blocks of the campus.

“A massive manhunt is going on” with local, state and federal authorities, Craig said.

Police are searching for an African-American man in his 40s with a full beard, a university statement posted on the school’s website said Tuesday night. It added he was wearing a white T-shirt with white and black lettering, a skull cap and a brown jacket.

Wayne State has more than 27,000 students and is located in the heart of Detroit.

Craig cited four recent incidents around the country in which law enforcement officers were shot.

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.