Detroit police officers shot: how it happened

2 Detroit police officers hospitalized after violent shootout; 1 suspect killed by gunfire

DETROIT – It began as a high-speed chase that ended in gunfire at Linwood and Hooker Street in Detroit.

It was just after 6 p.m. Tuesday when two Detroit police officers who are part of a crime-fighting task force were following a silver Dodge Magnum on the city's west side. Inside the Magnum were two people. One of them was suspected of murder.

Read: 2 Detroit police officers shot; suspect killed, 2 arrested

When the officers tried to stop the vehicle the driver fled. Police gave chase.

"We saw about eight police cars chasing that grey Magnum. We heard a couple of gun shots and then it was a car crash," said Sean White, who was in the area when the shooting happened.

Police eventually boxed the vehicle in, causing the Magnum to crash into one of their own at Linwood and Hooker Street. That's when the suspect took aim at the officers and started firing shots.

"Just guns shot. It sounded like a war and the first thing I did was jump up wondering where my kids were," said Tamara White, who heard the gunshots.

One officer was shot in the head. The other was shot in the leg. The gunman was killed.

The violent exchange shattered the windows of a police sport utility vehicle. It was riddled with bullets.

"This can be a pretty rough neighborhood at times, but never nothing this extreme," said Tamara White, who lives in the neighborhood.

Police are releasing very little about the suspect other than that he was wanted in connection to a March 28 murder in the 21000 block of McNichols Road involving a marijuana ring.

Sources say the other person in the suspect's vehicle tried to flee but was arrested.

The officers shot are part of the Comprehensive Violence Reduction Unit. It's a partnership with a number of law enforcement agencies including the ATF.

One officer, a sergent, joined the force in 1989. The other officer joined the force in 2000.