Boys sleep on Detroit porch • Ex-cop loses appeal in Patrick Lyoya murder • Groups praised for crime reduction

TUESDAY NEWS HIT - For months, neighbors on Detroit's west side have been watching teen brothers sleep on the porch of a home.

As the temperatures dip, those in the area say their concern is growing for the boys.

One of the boys told 7 Mile Radio host Marc D’Andre that he has been sleeping on the porch for five months with his brother sometimes joining him. Their parents live inside the home.

Neighbors confirm this, saying they were told it was a punishment for the kids.

"It hurts every night to go to sleep and know these kids are out here," said Kiarra Collins. "In July, it was 80-90 degrees. Now it’s 20 degrees."

Collins is among the neighbors on Leslie Street near Dexter who confirm that two kids use the porch to sleep. 

D'Andre and neighbors have offered food, money, and shelter to the boys, but they don't accept it.

"We don’t want to wait until these kids freeze to death to do something," Collins said.

FOX 2 attempted to contact the boys' parents but haven't been able to reach them. According to records, the house belongs to a pastor who allegedly is the boys' father.

Detroit police said they have been to the home multiple times. They returned Monday night to meet with the parents for hours.

Police are investigating. 

Jennifer Crumbley seeks to have conviction overturned

Months after learning that she would spend 10-15 years in prison for a deadly school shooting carried out by her son, Jennifer Crumbley is seeking to have her conviction tossed.

Jennifer and her husband, James Crumbley, were convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the Nov. 30, 2021 Oxford High School shooting. Their teen son was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to a long list of charges. 

In an appeal filed Monday, Jennifer's attorney Michael Dezsi said that her trial was "riddled with legal errors."

Dezsi argued that evidence was withheld from the trial, including information that two key witnesses who worked at the school entered into cooperation agreements to testify against Jennifer. According to Dezski, these agreements were not disclosed.

According to the filing, the agreements should have been shared with the jury because the employees - Nick Ejak and Shawn Hopkins - interacted with the shooter the day of the crime, and had the chance to search his backpack before the shooting, but did not.

Dezsi also argued that the jury was told that they could convict Jennifer even if their verdict was not unanimous.

"There’s a reason why no parent in America has ever been held responsible for the criminal acts of their child in relation to a school shooting. It is because Mrs. Crumbley committed no crime," Dezsi said in a press release. "This case should be concerning for parents everywhere."

The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office responded to the filing. Prosecutor Karen McDonald first addressed the statement about parents being concerned, saying that parents are concerned about their children being shot at school, not about being prosecuted.

She also denied that Proffer Agreement allegation, saying that the witnesses testified without the promise of immunity or protection.

Ex-cop loses appeal in Patrick Lyoya murder case

Christopher Schurr, the former Grand Rapids police officer who shot and killed Patrick Lyoya during an April 2022 traffic stop, is headed to trial after losing an appeal.

Schurr was fired from the department and charged with second-degree murder following the shooting. Video from the encounter showed Schurr and Lyoya struggling in the front yard of a home. Schurr kicked and Tased Lyoya before the officer ultimately shot Lyoya in the back of the head.

"He was supposed to give a verbal warning with the tasers. Twice that he never did," said Attorney Ven Johnson, who represents Lyoya's family. "He was supposed to give my client that warning before he was shot with the gun. He never did. So, Schurr has violated so many different aspects of his training." 

The case is expected to take even more time to progress as it heads to trial.

Schurr and the police department also face civil suits.

"When their officers violate their training, just like here, they don't hold them accountable," said Johnson. "They don't do a full and complete internal investigation and if they do an investigation they don't make the charges stick, they don't give them time off without pay, they don't say we're going to terminate you."

ShotStopper groups praised for drop in shootings

Crime prevention in the City of Detroit is working thanks to the ShotStoppers program, Mayor Mike Duggan announced Monday.

In the last year homicides in Detroit dropped 45% in the ShotStopper zones using community violence intervention groups and 18 percent in the rest of the city.

The CVI program began in July of 2023 with six neighborhood nonprofits and a $10 million pilot program. Each contracted group is responsible for improving the quality in a three to five quare mile area — receiving $175,000 each, funded federally.

"The idea that you would have trusted members of the community who had authentic relationships who would intervene and change decision-making ahead of shootings," Duggan said. "That's where we make the city safer is when we get people to make safer decisions and not pick up the gun in the first place."

Results were shared from the past quarter - August through October, known to typically have the highest shooting numbers.

In the last quarter, non-CVI zones saw a 35% drop in shootings.

Snow on the way

Beginning on Wednesday, a clipper system will rush towards us from Canada, bringing dramatic changes to our midweek forecast. Starting early in the day on Wednesday, we could see some snowflakes and possibly freezing drizzle as temperatures hover near 36°.

Throughout the afternoon, evening and notably, nighttime hours on Wednesday, the accumulating snow will fall. While this is not a major winter system, it is still enough to bring around 1 inch snowfall totals for much of southeast Michigan. Combined with the timing of it (as the heavier snow is likely to arrive during the evening commute home), it could have some serious impacts to travel in the region.

Additionally, as this winter system arrives, the winds will dramatically pick up. Wednesday afternoon through Thursday afternoon.

The winds will likely gust as high as 40 mph, creating very blustery conditions (a wind advisory looks likely). 

Live on FOX 2

Daily Forecast

Today will be dry and cold ahead of the snow.

What else we're watching

1. Months after Scout opened in the former M-Brew space in Ferndale, the bar has closed. 
2. Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat, hosts of the popular podcast "Crime Junkie," plan to visit Detroit next year as they discuss a true crime case in front of live audiences around the United States. They'll be in Michigan on March 7, 2025.
3. Joe Tate has formed a Detroit mayoral exploratory committee following the announcement that Mayor Mike Duggan will not run again. 
4. A man is facing charges after he shot a 2-year-old while shooting at the child's mother, authorities said. Darius Lacey had allegedly forced himself into the home during an argument.
5. A jury found a Michigan man guilty of a cold case rape from almost two decades ago. Shawn Robinson Hopkins, 39, of Kalamazoo was convicted of two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for the 2005 sex assault of a 14-year-old girl.

Alcohol deaths have more than doubled in recent years

No amount of alcohol is good for the human body, previous research has shown — and now a new study has linked it to a rising number of deaths.

Over the course of two decades — from 1999 to 2020 — the number of alcohol-related deaths nearly doubled, according to a study from Florida Atlantic University (FAU)’s Schmidt College of Medicine.

Researchers analyzed data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), finding that alcohol mortality rates went from 10.7 per 100,000 in 1999 to 21.6 per 100,000 in 2020.

The biggest surge — a fourfold increase — was seen in people between the ages of 25 and 34.

The results were published in The American Journal of Medicine.

"Health care providers and their patients should be aware that in the U.S. as well as most populations throughout the world, individuals who consume moderate to large amounts of alcohol have the highest risks of premature mortality and morbidity," study author Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., a professor of medicine at the FAU Schmidt College of Medicine, told Fox News Digital.

The main causes of alcohol-related death were cardiovascular disease — primarily due to heart attacks and strokes — as well as certain "common and serious cancers" as well as cirrhosis of the liver, Hennekens said.