Parents of slain police officer call him a 'gentle giant' saying he had to have been 'blindsided'

FENTON, MI (WXYZ) - "I'm still waiting for him to come walking around the corner", say Arlene O'Rourke whose 39-year-old son, a West Bloomfield police officer, was killed late Sunday night in the line of duty.

Officer Patrick O'Rourke was shot in the neck when he and several other officers responded to a call of shots fired in a home on Forest Edge.

Police have identified the gunman as Ricky Coley, 50, who was supposed to vacate his West Bloomfield home as a result of a recent divorce.

We're told Officer O'Rourke was fatally shot when Coley fired through a closed door and drywall. Coley then barricaded himself in the house.

O'Rourke, a 12-year veteran of the West Bloomfield Police Department, was married his high school sweetheart, Amy. They have three daughters: Eileen, 10; Mary, 8; and 4-year-old Andrea.

Just eight months ago, Amy gave birth to their youngest, a boy named Stephen.

Amy is a nurse and relatives say she and Patrick worked opposite shifts so while one was away, the other could be home with the kids.

7 Action News talked to Patrick O'Rourke's parents at Patrick's home in Fenton where family and friends were gathering Monday.

"It's just a rollercoaster of emotions", says Patrick's father, Daniel O'Rourke who described his son as a gentle giant who was "as strong as three men".

Patrick's mother, Arlene, was confident in her son as a police officer saying, "I try to play in my mind what happened today and I can almost see what happened. He was just totally blindsided".