Child killed in drive-by shooting on Detroit's east side
(CBS DETROIT) – A family on Detroit's east side is grieving the loss of their 11-year-old child, who police say was killed in a drive-by shooting.
Investigators say the boy was shot Sunday at about 7:35 p.m. near an abandoned house at the corner of Courville Street and Nottingham Drive by someone inside a car that pulled up while the boy was playing with some family members.
"All of a sudden, I heard about four or five shots and two of the kids came running back towards this way. That's when I asked them, 'What happened? What happened? where's the other kid at?' And I jumped out of my car, and I ran down [the street], and the little kid was close to the corner there in the fetal position," Levorn Jordan, a neighbor, said.
On Monday, Detroit police said the boy's parents didn't wait for an ambulance and rushed their son to the hospital themselves.
But despite doctors' efforts, the boy died.
"This is one of those instances where we need everyone in the community to help us bring these individuals to justice," Detroit Police Department Deputy Chief Arnold Williams said during a news conference Monday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, Michigan State Police K-9 officer "Havoc" discovered at least four shell casings believed to be connected to the shooting.
DPD crime scene technicians recovered those and brought out a metal detector to see if there were any more casings.
As some detectives scoured the thick weeds and grass for evidence, others tried to chase down any tips to catch whoever was involved and ask them: Why did they do it?
"To our knowledge at this current time, we have no type of relation between those victims in the vehicle that drove by and the shots came from," Williams said.
The shooting has upset neighbors; some are on edge.
"I have no hope for Detroit at this point," Sara Scott, another neighbor, told CBS News Detroit. "If you can do a drive-by shooting with children outside, you don't care about yourself, or you don't care about nobody else's life, and that's my honest opinion."
According to DPD, eight days into 2024, there have been six homicides in the City of Detroit, a 25 percent decrease compared to the same time last year when detectives were investigating eight homicides.
In this boy's shooting death, anyone with information is asked to contact the Detroit Police Department's 9th Precinct at 313-596-5940 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.
