Detroit 16-year-old's fatal shooting caps string of violence since weekend
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Detroit police continue to investigate the double shooting on Detroit's east side that left one teen dead and another in unstable condition.
Officers were dispatched late Monday afternoon to the 15000 block of Collingham after getting a report of a shooting. When they arrived, they found two victims including one that would later be pronounced dead at the hospital.
While there was some chatter about the shooting being connected to a separate violent crime that happened nearby, police would not confirm any development.
The deceased teen was identified as a 16-year-old. The shooting happened near Gratiot and Eight Mile.
The shooting was one of many violent crime investigations from the past few days - as well as a reminder to activists that the presence of firearms remains all to prevalent in Detroit and around Southeast Michigan.
"We understand that functional literacy, that fatherlessness, that substance abuse, and we understand mental unhealthiness and poverty are significant contributors of criminal behavior," said Teferi Brent with Dignity 4 Detroit.
"So if we're talking about saving the lives of young people, we have to address those five things," he said.
Over the weekend, there was a fatal shooting at the Ford Wayne Stamping Plant after they showed up armed Saturday. Then in Southfield, the search is on for the suspect in a 30-year-old man's shooting.
A person-of-interest was taken into custody in investigation around an Oak Park man's shooting. A 36-year-old Harper Woods father's killing is also being investigated after the fatal shooting this weekend.
MORE: Detroit EMS worker and driver of crashed car both killed on I-75 when third driver loses control
Another activist gave credit to programs that have been rolled out to combat the roots of violence, thanking the mayor for his investment. However, reducing the rate of violent crime would require more than just the administration, said Darryl Woods.
"We’re going to have to be able to engage them on a level that we’ve never engaged them on. It’s going to take academia, it’s going to take community, it’s going to take the streets, and it’s going to take all of us to wrap our arms around these young people," Woods said. He works with Fighting The Good Fight.