Taylor Office Fatally Shot: Suspect's Estranged Wife Talks

TAYLOR, Mich. - Officer Matthew Edwards was responding to a domestic violence call at the Coppertree Apartments when he was shot. It's believed the suspect was trying to get to his estranged wife. FOX 2's Taryn Asher talked to the wife.

It had been only a few weeks since Tyress Mathews and his estranged wife starting spending time together again. Although he was living with his new girlfriend, he spent his birthday with his estranged wife. She tells me it was a good night until he took a call he shouldn't have.

"We argued back and forth for a minute and he started to gather his belongings and he left," she said.

He left, but proceeded to come back to collect his stuff.

"When he left the third time, I told him that he wasn't going to be able to come back in no matter what he did, no matter what he said, I was not going to let him back in," she said.

Mathews didn't take no for an answer. His wife, who wants to remain anonymous, says he was relentless, calling dozens of times, texting her, creating such a commotion throughout the night that her neighbor eventually called police.

She says she warned Mathews, but apparently he ignored her.

"I laid down. I went to sleep. I woke up and that's when I heard the shots. I saw that the last call that came through was minutes before the shots went off, so I just was hoping that he didn't have anything to do with that," she said.

Shots fired after police arrived and caught Mathews crawling through her Coppertree Apartment window. We're told Mathews was the one who shot and killed Cpl. Matthew Edwards after he was confronted by police.

FOX 2 has learned Mathews is a career criminal, something his wife knew but didn't worry about during their six year marriage.

"He was a different family man than he was, I guess, when I was not around because I wasn't with him all the time," she said.

She claims she never thought Mathews was capable of killing a police officer.

"I will pray for Tyress and I will continue to pray for the officer's family because that was a senseless shooting and he should not have died in the line of duty," she said.

But right now, she admits she must focus on her son, who will have to live with this burden.

"The fact that my son is going to grow up without his father, and then the stigma that his father killed a cop, a Taylor Police officer," she said.

Ultimately, she can't help but feel somewhat responsible, wondering what would have happened if she rejected her ex's advances.

"I fell like if I would never would have answered the phone call from him the weeks preceding the event then it never would've happened," she said.

She tells us that she has been struggling with this whole situation and hasn't even returned to the apartment since this happened. As for her estranged husband, he's still recovering in the hospital and is expected to be charged within the next couple of days.