Reward up to $52K in slain WSU officer case
A reward for information in the 2016 slaying of Wayne State University Police Officer Collin Rose has climbed to more than $52,000, authorities announced Tuesday.
The figure includes some $15,000 from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; $20,000 from the FBI; $15,000 from DTE Energy; and $2,500 from Crime Stoppers of Michigan, said Officer Jennifer Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Detroit Police Department.
In a bid to generate tips leading to an arrest and keep the case in the public eye, the department on Tuesday also redistributed pictures of a yellow flashlight and blue mountain bike investigators allege the suspect in Rose’s death used.
The K-9 handler was shot in the head at about 6:30 p.m. Nov. 22 on Lincoln near Selden Street, just off the Wayne State campus, when he stopped to investigate a man riding a bike, city police said.
Rose, 29, a five-year member of the university police department, died the next day — the first officer in the school’s history killed on duty.
Police arrested a man soon after, but he was freed after charges were dropped. The Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality has criticized the man’s jailing as a “tragic rush to judgment.”
Last month, authorities released a video of a suspect riding the bike around the time Rose was shot. Detroit Police Chief James Craig has said several people, including the man once accused as the shooter, had ridden or handled it.
Anthony Holt, the WSU police chief, told The Detroit News last week a task force assigned to the case is continuing to investigate and pursuing leads.
The reward increase comes days after the Detroit Tigers honored Rose, who had worked at Comerica Park with his dog, Wolverine. He has also been posthumously promoted to sergeant.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Detroit police at (313) 596-2260, ATF at 1-800-ATF-GUNS or the FBI at (313) 965-2323. Anonymous tips can also be left through the DPD Connect app or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.