2 Arrested After Toddler Killed, Several Adults Hurt In Detroit Shooting
DETROIT (WWJ) - A toddler was killed and several adults were injured in a "gang-related" shooting Thursday afternoon on Detroit's east side.
Police Chief James Craig told reporters that the 3-year-old girl, identified by family members as Amiracle Williams, died after being rushed by a squad car to a hospital. The child's father, mother and another adult woman were also wounded in the shooting.
Police said the shooting started as some sort of confrontation near Denby High School and culminated on Mogul Street, near Hayes and Whittier. Witnesses told WWJ's Jon Hewett that a group of teenagers were walking down the street shortly before bullets started flying.
"They were walking back and forth, like, a couple times," one witness said.
"When they came back this way, I saw the gun when he brought it out around the corner," said another witness.
The group reportedly approached a house on Mogul Street and at least one person opened fire.
Craig said the shooting was gang-related and could be connected to an incident earlier in the day at a nearby high school in which at least one person was shot.
"The individuals responsible were gang members, a local street gang," he said.
A young man and woman have been arrested, Craig said, but investigators believe there are four more suspects.
"And the tragic side of this is that, one there's a toddler, two-three year old little girl, possibly her dad ...shot, non-fatal, and then two adult females shot, non-fatal," the chief said. "So, right now we are looking at one fatality and four victims of a non-fatal shooting."
Rosina Barnes, Amiracle's aunt, said the shooting has torn her family apart.
"Why is everybody shooting each other? That's what I want to know. It's crazy," she said. "Everybody killing, everybody shooting. Why? Why does everybody got to have guns?"
Reporting from over the scene in Chopper 950 shortly after the incident, WWJ's Lance Howard said the neighborhood was packed with police.
"Mogul Street is completely closed between Hayes and Duchess," Howard said, shortly after 5 p.m. "We see dozens of police cruisers in the area. We also see a lot of onlookers."
Conditions of those injured were not immediately available.
