Weekend shootings, summer gun violence addressed by Detroit police
DETROIT (FOX 2) - The first weekend of June was a violent one. A total of nine people were injured in two separate shootings that occurred over the weekend, according to Detroit police.
One of the incidents was an officer-involved shooting that took place around 1 a.m. on Saturday. Four people were shot during a party that involved more than 100 people, on Trinity Street in Detroit.
"The incident itself resulted in the officers responding to an active shooter. Upon their arrival, an engagement led to an officer-involved shooting, which we are currently investigating," said Detroit Police Chief James White during a Monday news conference.
Police said eight guns were recovered and over 90 shell casings were marked at the Trinity shooting.
"Seven of these guns were handguns. One gun was an AR-style rifle," White said. "Two of these guns were stolen, and one handgun had a switch on it."
A second shooting where five people were wounded took place just an hour later. Police said five people were in a car at Warren and West Grand Boulevard when two gunmen in another car pulled up and started shooting.
All the victims are likely to survive.
"That's unacceptable, and we have to do everything we can as a police department to reduce crime. We continue to see the numbers, statistically, move in the right direction – with regards to a reduction over the same time last year, but those are mere numbers when you're talking about five people being shot, four people being shot at events throughout our city," White said. "You can't celebrate numbers when you've got real people that are impacted by this violence," White said.
The One Detroit violence reduction initiative involving the U.S. Attorney’s Office and other law enforcement partners will be expanded beyond the 8th and 9th Precincts –which are typically the most violent in the city– to make the summer months as safe as possible while going after the proliferation of deadly weapons on city streets, the chief said.
"We’re very happy to have the One Detroit initiative with our U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison, who has agreed to take these cases federally," White said "She’s looking at those cases and you’re talking some serious heavy time.
White did not release the name of the officer involved in the Trinity shooting.
"Our job isn't to change behavior. It's to hopefully encourage good behavior and people make better decisions. We don't want engage like this. We don't want to encounter Glock switches and ARs and parties. We don't want to encounter them anywhere. We want people to enjoy their summer and let simple conflicts go so that they can survive another day." White said.