Three officer-involved shootings for Detroit police in the last month spark concerns

FOX 2 - A fatal officer-involved shooting on Detroit's west side is the third in the span of a month, sparking the question: Are police-involved shootings on the rise?

Timeline:

Three police shootings have occurred in the last 30 days. The most recent happened as Detroit police executed a search warrant at a home on Rosemont, just south of Seven Mile.

Police say the man inside began firing his weapon at officers, who returned fire, killing him. The warrant was related to a felonious assault earlier this month.

Just before the Ford Fireworks, police say they saw a man armed with an assault-style rifle. He surrendered and was arrested.

However, police say he was with another man who was carrying a handgun. Officers say that man ran, prompting officers to open fire. He was struck and critically injured and appears to still be recovering.

Then, on May 27, another search warrant led to an officer-involved shooting near Moross and Lansdowne on Detroit's east side. The warrant stemmed from an investigation into shots fired. Police escorted a woman and children out of the house when, they say, an armed man who had locked himself in a bedroom opened fire.

It's unclear how many rounds the man fired. An officer discharged their weapon once, but police say the man ultimately took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

What they're saying:

FOX 2 spoke to Steve Dolunt, retired Detroit Police Department deputy chief, about why these cases appear to be on the rise.

"It's going nationwide. It's not just Detroit. More and more people are being armed," he said. "And they don't care about the consequences. Some of them are encouraging the police to come."

FOX 2: "I would imagine serving search warrants could probably be pretty dangerous."

"Absolutely, (but) it depends on what the search warrant is for," Dolunt said. "If you're looking for drugs, okay. They have guns in there, and you know they're armed. You do your research ahead of time. Could there be weapons? A lot of drugs? Does this person have a prior record? How many people are there? Are there going to be kids in there?

"So many factors go into this. What time are we hitting it — late at night or in the morning? So you don't know what you're going to encounter when you get there. And even then, you don't know what's going to happen when you go through the door."

Michigan State Police are investigating all three shootings.