Retired officer: cop shooting suspect called himself 'Michael Corleone'

(WJBK) - A retired Detroit police officer says the man charged for shooting two officers Wednesday has a history of mental illness.

Nikki Gibbs, a former officer of 14 years, seeing 60-year-old Raymond Durham's photo, says she was immediately brought back to her first encounter with the man.

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He's now charged for shooting two Detroit police officers and the prime suspect in the unsolved murder of Wayne State Police Sgt. Collin Rose.

She recalls when she saw his picture on the news.

"My initial reaction was that’s the guy who called himself Michael Corleone when I met him back in 2012," she said.

In 2012, Gibbs got a call while working out of the 8th Precinct.

"We were dispatched to this one home on a mental," she said.

Gibbs and her partner arrived at the group home. She says she began talking to a caretaker, who told her Durham had been threatening people.

"I heard like a male's voice, like a growling, like a demonic tone," she said. "When I saw this individual I said whoa. OK. Then we requested back up."

Gibbs says Durham had been standing there with his shirt off, angry and sweating profusely.

"He was just rigid and he had his fists clenched at his sides. And he kept mumbling and he was foaming at the mouth," she said.

Gibbs says his caretaker told her Durham hadn't taken his medication.

She began trying to think of ways to slowly calm him down.

"I remember just putting my hand on his shoulder. And I said, 'You have two pretty officers. We're going to get you some help,'" she said.

Eventually she was able to get Durham into the scout car. While on the way to the hospital, she says he continued to call himself Michael Corleone, foaming at the mouth.

"There's so many people out there like that that need help," she said.

While thinking of those two officers recovering, Gibbs sends prayers to them, along with their families.

"That's just one example of what officers go through every day," she said. "Those two officers might've saved someone else's life."

But Gibbs says she's also hoping there's something more we can all take from this.

"There's a bigger picture we need to look at and it's called mental illness," she said. "I'm just glad those two officers are going to recover I just I hope this is a wake-up call to all when it comes to mentally ill people."