DETROIT – Shots were fired at Detroit police officers Thursday morning during a traffic stop along Telegraph Road near McNichols Road on the city’s west side.
At about 3:30 a.m., Detroit police officers were working to make a traffic stop. The car pulled into a motel parking lot. Officers found two guns in the vehicle.
Police were detaining two people from that vehicle and waiting for a tow truck. As they were waiting, a white Kia Sorento drove by and someone from inside the vehicle fired several shots at the officers -- there were four officers total in two different squad cars.
The Kia was traveling northbound on Telegraph Road when shots were first shot from it. Then, the driver made a u-turn, traveled southbound and fired more shots at the officers.
No officers were struck by the gunfire. The squad cars were not hit by the gunfire either, and neither was the motel. No injuries were reported.
Kia crashes after short pursuit
About an hour later, the Kia was found and pursued by police. There was a short pursuit before the Kia crashed, hitting a utility pole and rolling over near West Outer Drive and Blackstone Street. There two men inside the vehicle -- a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old -- and they were with a 14-year-old girl. The girl was in the front passenger seat. One of them is detained while the other two are in custody at a hospital.
‘They wanted to fire some shots at the police’
The Detroit Police Department’s 8th Precinct Commander Darrel Patterson said one of the people involved -- either the driver or the passenger of the Kia -- were driving around and asking people where they could find some police officers to shoot.
“A citizen alleges that this same vehicle pulled up next to them and asked do they know where any police are? I guess the driver of the vehicle said no he didn’t, and they said they wanted to fire some shots at the police, or they wanted to shoot at the police,” said Patterson.
Telegraph Road remained shut down during the investigation Thursday morning.
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