Flint Police: Shooting Leaves Woman, Child Dead
FLINT (WWJ/AP) - Police say a woman and a young child are dead following an early-morning shooting in Flint.
An elderly woman and a young child who was one of a number she helped care for are dead following a shooting in Flint on Monday, police and those who knew them said.
Police responded about 2:30 a.m. to reports of shots fired into a home on the city's north side. The child's father, General Jasper Tyler, told The Flint Journal that Genesis General Tyler was killed along with Rita Langworthy, a caregiver they considered a grandmother.
"I can't believe this," he said. "We've lost so much."
The father said his eight children were staying at Langworthy's home and the newspaper reported the other children were ages 12 and under. No other injuries are reported and no arrests were immediately made. Police haven't said what prompted the shooting.
There have been 33 homicides in Flint so far this year, up from 31 total killings in Flint in all of 2014, police said.
Langworthy was active at First Presbyterian Church of Flint, said the church's recently retired pastor, the Rev. John Musgrave. She retired as principal of Bunche Elementary in 2003 after working many years for the Flint School District, according to the newspaper's archives.
"She was basically living at that home to take care of those children," Musgrave said. "She saw that as her mission."
Musgrave, who knew Langworthy for 13 years, said she was "a very wonderful and loving person who risked her life to take care of all of those children."
Several other children were in the home at the time. No other injuries are reported.
This follows two separate murders over the weekend.
Officials earlier vowed to work to put more officers on the streets in response to violence that included two separate killings on Saturday.
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