(WXYZ) — In 2018, the FBI put together a study on ambushes and unprovoked attacks.
Dr. Jeffrey Daniels of West Virginia University led some of the research. He and his colleagues were looking for the 'why.'
"There were several reasons ranging from hatred of police... in some cases, they were on drugs and weren't in a clear mind," Daniels said.
The motive in the shooting of officer Loren Courts is still unknown.
Daniels says based on his knowledge of the case, it would be classified as an ambush.
Detroit Police Chief James White says it's heart-wrenching to know his officers have targets on their backs.
"When they were ambushed upon making that run, they had no chance," he said. "The officers responded in minutes but they had no chance. They had backup, they used their training and their tactics, and the murderer shot the window out of his apartment and shot the officer when he was in the car."
White says it's not just a Detroit issue, it's a nationwide threat.
Courts is the 34th officer this year to be intentionally killed in the line of duty.
According to James Smallwood and the fraternal order of police, there have been 35 ambush-style attacks on officers this year. 12 of those officers died.
Meanwhile, 178 officers in total have been shot in the line of duty. That's a 19% jump from last year.
"What is alarming is that if a criminal is willing to attack a police officer and ambush them and take their lives and take them away from their community and their family and everyone at home who is waiting on them, they are willing to do it to everyone else in the community."
Daniels calls the statistics and research heart-wrenching.
The only good thing is that those facts and figures can be turned into real-world training for officers put in ambush-style situations.
"They really can't be completely prevented. What we can do is mitigate the effects of them, what's it occurs and again, in this situation, it sounds like they did the things they needed to do," Daniels said.
According to Chief White, Courts' partner took cover and immediately rendered first aid, however as Daniels points out, an attack like this is nearly impossible for an officer to prevent.
