DETROIT (WWJ) – Detroit Police Chief James White says the city, like others across the country, is seeing a surge in violent crime and gun crimes as summer begins.
Last weekend there were 24 people shot, leading to four deaths. Among the victims were four teens, ages 16-18, who were shot in the 12300 block of Roselawn, near Fullerton and I-96 on the west side.
It happened shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday when the teens were standing in front of a home and someone pulled up in a newer model silver Ford Explorer with black wheels and tinted windows and opened fire.
The only information police have on the suspect is that it was a male, according to White. A motive in the shooting is not known.
The victims are all expected to recover, though two of them are injured more seriously than the others, White said.
In a separate case, two men got into an argument at a party on Clay Street near E. Grand Boulevard and I-75, leading to a 29-year-old man's death. Detroit police released a photo of the suspect wearing an orange shirt and pants. No other information about the suspect is known.
White said there were more than 100 shootings across the country over Father's Day weekend, noting “the warm weather brings out more people for congregating and parties.”
While White said police have been expecting the uptick in crime as we enter the summer months – and they feel confident in their approach to policing it – he called upon the community to help them out.
“We want our young folks to have an opportunity. We want them to be the next… whatever they want to be. And unfortunately, guns and impulsive decision making and late hours outside and engaging in what I will call ‘high-risk behavior’ after hours leads to these really sad and tragic events,” White said at a Tuesday press conference detailing Sunday’s shooting and other recent crimes.
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He wants the city’s youth to “enjoy the summer like we had the opportunity to,” but said “the facts are what they are” when it comes to the crime they’re seeing across the city.
“You’ve got a lot of people making really bad decisions with guns,” he said. “You’ve got people that become superhuman when they’ve got a gun in their pocket – they can’t have an argument, they can’t have a fight, they get super tough because they’ve got a gun and they don’t really think about the responsibility that comes with that gun.”
Oftentimes, White said, that eagerness to turn to gun violence often ends with someone being shot who isn’t even the intended target.
The chief called on both young people and their parents to “be responsible.”
“At some point, parents, the party has to end. At some point, we’ve got to end the party. It can’t go to 3 and 4 and 5 every night. Let’s have another party another day. Let’s wrap it up at a reasonable hour and know where our young people are, help them out,” he said.
He said the department will continue to “police these streets unapologetically.”
“I’m not gonna apologize for getting gun-toting felons off the street. We’re gonna continue to do it, but certainly our community and families can help us,” he said.
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