Detroit Police Chief Says Fallen Officer And Partner Were Ambushed

(CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Police Chief James White says the department was robbed of a hero.

Officer Loren Courts was ambushed by a gunman who shot him the moment he arrived on the scene.

It began with a 911 call of shots fired on Joy Road and Marlowe at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

By 7:40 p.m. Officer Courts was hit by gunfire from a semi-automatic weapon.

White says the 40-year-old officer jumped out of the vehicle, trying to find cover.

"But he was already hit in a major artery, he was dying," White said.

His partner, Officer Amanda Hudgens, sprung into action, according to the chief.

"Officer Hudgens has to make a decision," the chief explained.

"She wants to keep direct pressure, her training, applied to her officer's wound so that he has a chance to live. Behind her is the murderer who is walking towards her with this assault rifle."

The suspect, Ehamani Davis, was shot and killed by responding officers on the scene.

"It's so many people who have never done this job that wants to tell us how to do this job," White said.

"There's so many people that don't have the courage to do this job, that's an expert on how to do this job. What I saw last night and this morning were heroes."

Chief White says Davis recently purchased the semi-automatic, just two weeks before the shooting.

"And these ridiculous gun crimes across this country, regardless of where you stand politically on owning a weapon, these assault weapons are ridiculous in our communities and they're causing death, period," White said.

Courts was a husband and father of two.

He served in the department for five years.

The chief tried to find words of comfort for those left behind.

"To his family, words can not say what I need to say," White said.

"I don't have the words. It's unconscionable. Yesterday was simply the worst day of this family's lives, period. I don't have words to make them feel better. I can only tell them that over time the pain may get a little easier, but I can't guarantee it. The only thing that I can promise you is that we'll never forget him, his service to this community, and we will continue to enforce the law in his honor and others like him."

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