Retired police detective 'undercharged', family says, after allegedly shooting his own son

(FOX 2) - While Steve Szymanski recovers from being shot, his friends and family protest outside the Macomb County Sheriff's Office.

"We have no choice but to stand out here on a hot day and ask for justice and beg for it," said Jill Quaker. "As a family we want the truth, we want fairness and we want justice. We believe in the justice system and we want a jury to decide [the] intent. Charge him like you would charge a regular citizen."

The person who allegedly shot Steve over Memorial Day weekend in Macomb Township is his own father, a retired Hamtramck police detective. Steve's family is upset because Steve's father was released from police custody just hours after being arrested - and now they say he's been undercharged. 

He's facing a charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder.

Steve's loved ones feel like the retired detective was given preferential treatment because of his career in law enforcement, something Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham denies.

"That's farther than the truth. We went, we responded, we took the individual into custody. We did the investigation. We conferred with the prosecutor that night. We released [him] pending further investigation. We submitted a warrant. We did everything we were supposed to do," he said. 

And now two months after the shooting, Sheriff Wickersham is releasing new information about the case.

"The Macomb County Sheriff's Office asked for attempted murder and the prosecutor's office had the case, reviewed the case, and when the warrant came back it was assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder," Wickersham said. 

We contacted the prosecutor's office to find out why it went with lesser charges but have not heard back.

The suspect is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.