DETROIT (WWJ) — Frustration, shock and grief — it is the feeling Detroit Police Chief James White tried to describe over and over while addressing the community over the loss of one of their own on Thursday afternoon.
“We all should be outraged," White said in a passionate press conference just after 1 p.m. "The reality sets in that we lost a hero in this department. We are devastated, but not defeated. We will not give up."
White called on courts and lawmakers to "step up" in the wake of a deadly shooting that killed Officer Loren Courts, 40, moments after he and his partner arrived on the scene of an active shooter on Detroit's west side Wednesday evening.
Courts is survived by his wife, Kristine, and two children.
"It’s getting old hearing about what everyone is going to do," White said as he espressed his frustration. "It’s time to do it."
Officials gave a timeline of the events leading up the fatal shooting near Joy Road and Marlowe Street, calling the incident an "ambush."
Courts and his partner, Officer Amanda Hudgens, joined other responding officers at the location around 7:39 p.m., a mere nine minutes after dispatch first received the call of shots fired, White explained.
The chief said Courts was making a U-turn to position his squad car when he was hit.
“They had no chance," White said. "The murderer shot a window out of his apartment and immediately shot the officer while he was in the car."
White said Courts was hit in a major artery, but still tried to gain cover. He eventually collapsed and Hudgens immediately rendered first aid.
"He was already dying," White said.
White called Hudgens "a hero" after she continued to apply pressure to Courts' wound to staunch the bleeding, refusing to move even after the gunman exited the building and began to approach her.
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“She makes the decision to give her partner a chance to live and keeps her back to the assailant," White explained.
But other officers had them covered: they returned fire, fatally striking the suspect.
"All of this happened within the first two minutes of officers responding to this call," White said.
He told the room how officers show up, day in and day out, and preform their job to the "highest integrity" to protect the community, but it was time for lawmakers and courts to protect law enforcement.
"Courts: open up," he urged. "Have trials, hold people accountable!"
“These ridiculous gun crimes, regardless of where you stand politically on owning a weapon, these assault weapons are ridiculous in our communities and are causing death."
White was impassioned as he outlined other shooting cases around Michigan, including homicides involving guns in communities like Fraser, as well as across the nation.
"This is beyond Detroit’s issue," he argued.
The chief promised to get "these trigger pullers off the street" in honor of his fallen officer, but admitted the department cannot do it without help. White said he was frustrated and tired of talk about what should be done.
He called out local, state and federal officials for continuing to do nothing.
“We don’t have drive-by fist fights, we have drive-by shootings," White emphasized.
White refused to release much information about the suspect, instead wishing to speak about Courts, his other officers and the problem facing law enforcement.
“We owe these officers a debt of gratitude… when you see an officer, remember that — please… I am unapologetic about supporting our police officers,” Chief White said.
White called Courts "a beloved son, father and husband" who served at Detroit's 2nd precinct. He hails from a family of police officers and followed in his father's footsteps.
White said Courts' father was a retired Detroit police officer himself.
"He loved his son and his city so much that he encouraged his son to join the police department."
Courts served the force for five years.
“We spend too much time talking about non-heroes like the murderer who shot this officer," White said. “We need help. We lock them up, keep them locked up. If you violate the law, you pay a penalty for it.”
He revealed the gunman. later identified as 19-year-old Ehmani Mack Davis, may have wanted to commit "suicide by cop." White said a warrant was currently in process for the suspect at the time of Wednesday's shooting, but was unware of its circumstances.
A press release sent out from DPD after White's press conference clarified Davis was pending a warrant for Assault with Intent to Murder through the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office; it was submitted on June 21.
White looked on stoically as he told the room that the suspect had purchased a 7.62 semiautomatic Draco pistol — similar in caliber to the AK-47 — with a banana clip only two weeks prior to the shooting.
“We can't even slow that down," White said of gun purchases.
White said the gunman wasn't previously known to the department.
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