DETROIT (AP) — Dozens of people protesting police brutality in Detroit confronted officers following the fatal shooting of a man Friday whom the city’s police chief said fired at officers investigating a Fourth of July block party shooting.
Tear gas canisters appeared to have been shot into the crowd, which assembled Friday evening at the shooting site on Detroit’s west side yelling at police and chanting “Black Lives Matter” and “Defund DPD!”
An officer attempted to stop the man about 12:30 p.m. and a struggle began, Chief James Craig told reporters. He said the man then pulled a gun and started shooting over his shoulder at the officers.
“As that was occurring, the officer pushed him away, and that’s when the additional officers, fearing for their lives, the fact that he was actively shooting, they fired several rounds, striking the suspect,” Craig said.
“We’re still very early in this investigation,” he said. “Based on what I know right now, this suspect was unprovoked and just fired on the officers.”
The unidentified man was pronounced dead at a hospital. A gun and shell casings were recovered.
No officers were wounded. Those involved have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting.
Another man was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant.
He is a suspect in a gang-related shooting on July 5 at a block party that left three people dead and five others wounded.
Protests have been held in the city and across the U.S. since the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd, who was Black and handcuffed, died after a white police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes, even as Floyd begged for air and eventually stopped moving.
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