Cinco de Mayo Parade Marred By Violence
DETROIT (WWJ) - Against the backdrop of an otherwise colorful, peaceful event, shots rang out striking and killing a teen during the 50th annual Cinco de Mayo parade in Detroit.
Authorities say the shooting happened in the area around Vernor and Ferdinand streets in Mexicantown during the annual event.
Detroit Police Chief Deputy Darryl Brown says they are investigating to see if two knew each other.
"We believe they were acquainted," said Brown."But we had sufficient deployment, we had sufficient resources deployed to the event ... we were anticipating it to be a nice family event but we had a tragic ending."
No information on the teen, who died after being transported to a nearby hospital.
Brown says one of the individuals involved the shooting was a gang member ... but it's not clear if it was retaliation or gang - related shooting.
Brown emphasized that because of the police presence on the scene - the response by authorities was "about a minute" and they took a suspect, also in his teens, into custody.
"It's not only frustrating for the police department, but for the community," said Brown. "They were anticipating a nice Cinco de Mayo celebration and some individuals decided they were going to conduct their own event."
Police canceled the remaining portion of the event.
