Attorney: alleged police officer shooter appears 'delusional'

DETROIT (WJBK) - The man accused of shooting two Detroit police officers made his first appearance in court Friday.

Raymond Durham's family showed their support for him as he was led out of a courtroom. Durham is accused of shooting the two police officers March 15.

He was stopped by police on Ash near Tillman. After struggling with the officers, Durham pulled his gun and allegedly began firing, hitting one officer in the neck and the other in the leg and chest.

Durham is also the suspected shooter in the death of Wayne State police Sgt. Collin Rose last November due to a DNA match from both crime scenes according to police.

On Friday his attorney told the judge her client needs a psychiatric evaluation.

"I don't believe he is able to competently assist in his defense at this time," said attorney Gabi Silver. "He appears to be somewhat delusional."

Durham also had trouble understanding a document he was supposed to sign. His attorney says she hopes this case shines a light on mental illness.

Durham was arraigned on charges stemming from Wednesday's police shooting, including two counts of Assault with Intent to Murder; two counts of Resisting and Obstructing the Police Causing serious Impairment; and one count of Felon in Possession of a Firearm; and five counts of Felony Firearm. 

He will be back in court in June after undergoing a competency exam. Until then he'll remain in the Wayne County jail.

Sgt. Rose, 29, was shot in the Woodbridge Community neighborhood when he stopped a man on a bike. Rose's murder has been unsolved for nearly four months now. A reward has increased to more than $100,000 for information that helped track down the suspect. Chief Craig said earlier this week that the manner of the two shooting attacks on the officers are certainly similar, as well as physical descriptions of the suspect from both cases.

The officers were conducting a narcotics investigation on Tillman Street, which is near I-96 and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., when they approached a man who was "acting fidgety," Police Chief James Craig said. The man pulled out a gun and fired before the officers returned fire.

Family members say Durham, who has had two previous breaking and entering convictions, is mentally ill and hasn't been the same since a piece of steel fell on his head decades ago.