DETROIT (WXYZ) — Two suspects Detroit police say attacked an off-duty, fully uniformed police officer at a gas station over the weekend on the city's west side have been taken into custody.
Chief White says the suspects, who are only being identified as juveniles, were identified and surrendered after negotiations with their family and attorney. White says they were trying to evade capture before negotiations. They were taken into custody in Southfield and are being processed in the 6th Precinct.
The attack had community members concerned.
"That makes me even more worried, imagine if they did that to a police officer, image what we go through all day?" said Mohsin Said, one of the clerks at the gas station.
The security camera footage shows the officer paying at the register, and then the two suspects tackle the officer in an attempt to steal his firearm. However, the attempt was unsuccessful, and the officer was able to maintain possession of the gun.
Later the suspects can be seen fleeing the gas station. Mohsin was not on duty at the time of the incident. But he never thought something like this would ever happen, let alone at his place of work.
"Without this, without the glass, you are not safe working at a gas station," said Mohsin.
Mohsin has seen and heard about many crimes happening at gas stations. He says it's a challenging job.
"Try to come up here and stay for 30 minutes behind the cashier, deal with the customers, see how it is," said Mohsin.
"Mohsin, when folks say gas stations should remove automatic door locks, how do you feel about that?" asked 7 Action News reporter Faraz Javed.
"People will grab something and walk away. All day because they know you can't stop them. Then how about if I need to go to a restroom, I'm not going to be safe, if someone waiting for me to go out there and lock the door with the key. One person got killed because someone left the door open with a brick and when the cashier walked out, he got killed," said Mohsin.
The debate of automatic door lock removal at gas stations started last month after a gas station clerk was charged in a triple shooting case that left one dead and two injured.
The argument was over an unpaid amount of $4. To prevent theft, the clerk allegedly locked the door, which infuriated the gunman, who later opened fire.
Then earlier this month, another gas station clerk was charged for allegedly shooting a customer for stealing beef jerky.
"It's not worth it, your $4, $10, $100 is not worth anybody's life. It's just sad," said Shawn.
52-year-old Shawn grew up in Detroit and says that criminals have been getting brazen and violent over the years.
"It's bad all over. I came up at high schools, you know, shooting then, I don't know what bad anymore, everybody getting shot, everybody getting killed," said Shawn.
Detroit Police say they've executed two search warrants in the case.
