Teen shooting at Southfield hotel could lead to charges for adult who rented room

Former DPD assistant chief thinks charges for teen shooting at hotel will extend to adult who rented the room

Sunday morning’s shooting inside the Westin Hotel in Southfield struck a nerve with retired Detroit police Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt.

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - Sunday morning’s shooting inside the Westin Hotel in Southfield struck a nerve with retired Detroit police Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt.

"Now a young man is fighting for his life because some individual thought it was a good idea for whatever reason to rent a room for a bunch of teenagers."

He’s upset that a 15-year-old named Tyler, was shot following a night with other teenage friends. Police at the scene recovered guns, drugs, and a scale in the hotel room.

The 15-year-old victim is on life support after being shot in the head after an adult rented a room for five underage teenage boys on the seventh floor of the Westin and left them unattended, according to police.

Dolunt says this case reminds him of another 15-year-old who shot and killed a teenager during a hotel party at the Hawthorne Suites on New Year's Eve, 2022.

Dolunt, who is not connected to the investigation, provided some insight on what may happen to the adult who reserved the room for the teenagers.

"The prosecutor, (Karen) McDonald, just did Crumbley, I think she will charge when they find the person who had the credit card for the room, that person should be charged criminally," Dolunt said. "I think she will. Either aiding and abetting (and) contributing to the delinquency of a minor."

The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office is working with Southfield police, but hasn’t charged any adults at this time.

Southfield PD says the 15-year-old suspect taken into custody Sunday was arraigned Tuesday on weapons charges.

Investigators discovered the teen with two Glock pistols — one was unregistered, and another was stolen from Flint.

Southfield Police Chief Elvin Barren says both surveillance and body camera videos are crucial in this case, but can’t be released because it involves minors.

Mark Watts is president of Boys 2 Men Youth Mentoring Program in Lathrup Village.

"It’s very sad. it’s very sad and unfortunate," Watts said. "I feel very bad about what happened."

He’s mentored 400 young men and helped all of them get into college.

Watts says his heart breaks for Tyler and the other teens who were at the hotel. He says mentoring them through the trauma of this shooting is critical.

"The first thing I would do is, I would listen," he said. "I would listen to him and let him explain everything. And then I would be very careful with that. That's a rough conversation because it’s very traumatizing.

"I would definitely have a conversation with him and explain some different scenarios of how to make the right decision next time, to make sure something like this could never happen again."