By Amy Lange
MyFox Detroit
DETROIT — The man convicted of killing a Taylor Police officer will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Tyress Matthews was sentenced Monday, but didn’t show very much remorse in court.
“I’m not your boy. I’m not your [expletive] or your coward,” Mathews said. “Power to the people.”
Mathews told the court he didn’t deliberately kill Taylor Police Corporal Matt Edwards on July 23, 2010. Police had been called to the Coppertree Apartments that morning where the deadly shootout happened.
“You called me a coward, Mr. Prosecutor. You don’t even know me, sir. I tried to walk away,” said Mathews.
However, he fired a gun instead killing the 31-year-old father of two and injuring another officer.
“The lives of so many people have been altered and changed by this unspeakable loss and will forever not be the same,” Shannon Edwards said as she addressed the court.
She is grateful her husband’s killer will spend the rest of his life in prison.
“By spending the rest of his life in prison and never being able to go home to his family … is okay with me because my husband never got to finish his shift and come home to me and our children,” said Edwards.
The late officer’s family tried to hold back tears as they told the judge they would never forget that day their lives were forever changed.
David Edwards, a minister who prayed for his sons, both police officers, every day, said he’s forgiven Mathews and prays Mathews will ask God to forgive him.
“Matt was the first officer that our department has ever lost in the line of duty. When Tyress Mathews murdered Corporal Edwards and tried to murder Corporal Piche, he also took a shot at every officer in our department,” explained Taylor Police Chief Dale Tamsen.
The chief noted Mathew’s long criminal record, which includes several robberies and attempted murder. A prison psychologist once called him a lethal and violent individual.
The sad irony, Tamsen said, is that the gun he used to kill Edwards had been stolen from a Detroit Police officer.
“The only good thing to come from this tragedy is that Tyrese Matthews will not be able to hurt our society again,” said Tamsen.
Reprinted with permission from MyFox Detroit.
Convicted Cop Killer Tyress Mathews Remains Defiant during Sentencing: MyFoxDETROIT.com