Two shootings in Detroit's west side have left a 5-year-old girl and a man injured, Detroit police are investigating the connection between the incidents that occurred yesterday evening. According to FOX 2 Detroit, the officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert of 13 shots at the intersection of Plainview and Westfield avenues, where they discovered shell casings but no victims.
Subsequently, a neighbor informed the officers of the child's injury. The girl had been shot in the leg while inside a moving vehicle and was taken to a hospital. Meanwhile, Detroit Police Department Deputy Chief Jacqueline Pritchett, expressed her frustration to FOX 2 Detroit, "This is becoming old. I'm really tired of coming to these scenes with these children being shot." Both incidents are believed to have occurred near each other, at around the same time.
Moreover, the second victim, a man, walked into a Detroit police precinct with a gunshot wound to his shoulder, officials suspect these two shootings may be related. The man was in the vicinity of the same area where the shots were detected, as per CBS News Detroit. Police are investigating whether the incident stemmed from an argument.
"We're getting tired of coming to these scenes with these children shot. People should be responsible gun owners and should be able to control their anger if this [shooting] is an altercation from an argument, from which preliminarily we're being told," Pritchett told CBS News Detroit. The 5-year-old is now in stable condition, and police continue to piece together the circumstances of the shooting. They encourage anyone with information to come forward, emphasizing the importance of community engagement to prevent such needless violence against children.
