(WWJ) A Dearborn police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking his girlfriend with a knife, police said.
Dearborn Police told WWJ the victim made several frantic 911 calls around 6:20 a.m. Sunday, from her apartment in the area of Park and Monroe. When officers arrived; they found the man, 43, stabbing the woman.
“He was still attacking the woman in the bathroom,” Chief Ronald Haddad said. “Let me tell you, I did visit the scene. It was a very, very, very cluttered, narrow apartment.”
He said officers knew time was of the essence.
“Our officers made the appropriate determination that rapid entry had to be made and they forced the door open on the apartment, took the assailant off the woman, during which time the assailant was fatally shot,” Haddad said. “Our officers immediately started to render first aid to the victim and the assailant.”
The man died at the scene. Police said he sometimes resided in Dearborn. He was wanted for multiple felonies, and he was a parole absconder.
The victim, 39, was stabbed multiple times in the throat, head and face.
This was not the first time he had been violent towards her, police said.
“I can tell you, unfortunately, we have made multiple, countless runs to that building on domestic violence calls," Haddad said.
Michigan State Police is taking over the investigation. Chief Haddad said it is likely the officer involved, a 15-year-veteran of the department, will be placed on administrative leave.
Still, he supports the officer’s actions.
“Given the climate around the country and how officers are being attacked all around the country, our officers relied on their training and did what they are supposed to do this morning. They were not walking on eggshells."
Haddad said the woman is “critically wounded,” but her wounds are not expected to be life-threatening. Doctors are currently working to stabilize her.
“Had (officers) not done what they did at the scene," Haddad told WWJ. "The outcome would have been very different for the woman."