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Suspected Detroit cop shooter not competent, judge rules

By Dave Spencer
Published  May 5, 2017 5:23pm EDT
News
FOX 2 Detroit

DETROIT (WJBK) - The man charged with shooting two Detroit police officers has been deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial in the shootings.

A judge ruled on Friday that Raymond Durham is not competent to stand trial. A doctor told the court that Durham was delusional and unable to assist in his own defense. That ruling means, for now, that will not be a trial for the shooting of the two officers.

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Raymond Durham, 60, is charged in the March shooting of two officers in the area of Tillman and Ash on Detroit’s west side near I-96 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

He's also suspected of killing a Wayne State Police Sergeant Collin Rose last December.

Police say the officers were conducting a narcotics investigation when they approached a man who was "acting fidgety."

The man pulled out a gun and fired before the officers returned fire. One officer was shot in the neck and the other officer in the upper torso, but was saved by a protective vest. He was also shot in the ankle.He was also shot in the ankle, but the wound is not considered life threatening.

Family of the suspect told Fox 2 he is mentally ill and a judge agreed on Friday.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said the decision is tough for law enforcement and that it only highlights a gaping hole that needs to be filled.

"I'm not happy about anything surrounding this. We have an officer who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Two officers that were shot and now we have an individual who the court has declared mentally incompetent," Craig said. "When there is someone in our neighborhoods and city that is suffering from mental illness and they are not being treated then tragedy strikes."

The Chief says that mental illness is something that Detroit officers encounter on a daily basis but treatment is happening in all the wrong places.

"The issue is not the training. We are well trained to respond to the mentally ill. The issue is getting sustained treatment," Craig said. "The Wayne county jail locally has become a mental hospital. 70 percent of the inmate population is suffering from mental illness. We should not be treating the mentally ill in prison."

Mark Diaz, the president of the Detroit Police Union, says lawmakers need to do something to protect police and citizens.

"That falls back on our legislators, once again. It is there job to enact laws to protect our citizens. The officers are doing it with their lives," Diaz said.

The court will revisit Durham's case in August to see if he is competent then. If Friday's ruling is upheld, the Chief says there will never be a trial in the death of Sgt. Rose.

One of the two officers told FOX 2 that he and his partner are doing well in their recovery. He said that they are trusting the legal process.