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Man charged with buying gun used to kill DPD Officer Courts will remain locked up

Officer Loren Courts
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DETROIT (WXYZ) — A federal magistrate judge has ruled the man accused of buying the gun for the man who killed a Detroit cop in the line of duty last week will be kept locked up.

Federal Magistrate Jonathan Gray says 26-year-old Sheldon Avery Thomas is a danger to the community.

Thomas’ mother was in court sitting behind me crying.

But the government presented a lot of evidence.

The government showed texts that Sheldon Thomas was best friends with the suspected cop killer Emani Davis, texting about buying Davis a gun last summer because at 19 Davis was too young to buy it himself.

On May 29 they both went to Action Impact on 8 Mile in Eastpointe to buy a gun, but it was delayed in the federal system.

Thomas went back on June 27 and bought the Draco handgun used in the murder last week of DPD officer Loren Courts.

Davis was killed on the scene by responding officers.

When Thomas was questioned by ATF, he showed them a text he sent to Davis on June 22, ‘don’t do nothing stupid, because my name is on it’, meaning that gun.

Today, protesters targeted the gun store.

The owner of the store told 7 Action News yesterday he’s no longer selling the Draco handgun the Detroit Police Chief described as an assault-style weapon.

Thomas is held without bond. He’s facing up to 10 years in prison for falsifying the paperwork to buy the gun for his friend in what’s called a straw purchase.