After drive-by that left 3 kids shot, Pontiac community holds prayer rally
PONTIAC, Mich. (FOX 2) - A peace march was held in Pontiac Tuesday night following a violent month of August, and one city leader is proposing a city curfew.
"You may only see three bullets on that window, hallelujah, but if you go in the inside of that house there are well over 20 bullet holes in the wall," said Rolanda Williams.
If the kids are not safe, no one is. That was just one of many sentiments driving a march and prayer rally in Pontiac tonight after three children were struck in their home during a drive-by shooting Saturday night.
"Come here, Keola. she was shot with a nine-millimeter," Rolanda said to the crowd.
She said her 11-year-old daughter Keola was struck in the hip. Her 7-year-old and 10-month-old granddaughters were also shot -amazingly they're all expected to recover.
"There is no shadow of a doubt that God worked a miracle on Dudley Street," said Rolanda Williams. "No matter what it may look like or what we went through, there was a miracle on Dudley Street.
The city of Pontiac is reeling. Just three days before the children were shot, there was another shooting that left three men dead and another injured.
Kenneth Clay was arraigned on murder, weapons and assault charges for the quadruple shooting.
"Pray for our city, it is going to take us a long time to come back from this," said Kermit Williams.
Pontiac City Council President Kermit Williams is the cousin of one of the men who was gunned down.
His fellow councilmembers dismissed his proposal for a city wide curfew to curb gun violence Tuesday, but they are forming a taskforce of community stakeholders to bring peace to Pontiac.
"The trauma of that on the families, the community and even our deputies," said Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard. "One of our deputies that carried the 10-month-old, got done with the moment and looked down and he was covered by the baby's blood. That's hard not to carry with you the rest of your life."
Bouchard says there are no suspects in the triple shooting that sent three kids to the hospital.
"Somebody knows who this is, and if you know who a coward is that would drive by a house in the dark of night, turns off their lights and opens fire and shoots three kids and doesn't say anything, you are part of the problem," said Bouchard.
While everyone there is grateful the kids survived, they're also asking when will enough be enough.
Two of the three children who were shot are back home from the hospital and the third is expect to be released soon.
The city is considering a budget amendment for extra enforcement for deputies to target illegal guns and get them off the street.
