Detroit 13-Year-Old Shot in Arm on Chatham Street, One Person Held

A 13-year-old girl was shot in the arm on Chatham Street in Detroit a little before 2 in the morning, and police say she was playing with an unsecured gun alongside an older sibling when it went off. She was taken to the hospital, where her condition was listed as temp-serious. One person has been arrested in connection with the shooting and remains in police custody.

According to FOX 2 Detroit, police said the girl and her older sibling were playing with the firearm when she was struck. The outlet reported the shooting occurred on Chatham Street and that the teenager was recovering in the hospital following the incident.

Detroit Police Commissioner Darryl Woods said firearms should be secured properly whenever children are in the home, a message local officials have been repeating with new urgency this year. The department provides free gun locks at every precinct, and the station's report noted that gun stores also sell a range of lock types for residents who want additional options.

What Happens Next for the Person in Custody

Pastor Mo Hardwick told the outlet that gun owners can serve time for the gun, and cautioned that people who never meant to cause harm can still face negligence and child homicide charges. Whether the person arrested owned the firearm or simply lived in the home has not been detailed publicly, and it remains unclear whether prosecutors will pursue charges tied specifically to Michigan's safe storage statute.

Under Michigan's Public Act 17 of 2023, a gun owner who fails to securely store a firearm that a minor then accesses and discharges, causing non-serious injury, faces a felony carrying up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. If a minor's access to an unsecured weapon results in serious impairment of a body function, the same law raises the potential penalty to up to 10 years in prison and a $7,500 fine, according to the state. It is not yet clear how the girl's temp-serious condition would be classified under that threshold, or what specific charges, if any, prosecutors intend to file.

The Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention notes that the law requires owners to keep unattended firearms unloaded and locked, either with a safety device or in a locked box, whenever it is reasonably known that a minor is or is likely to be present. The unsecured gun owner in this case could face charges for violating those safe storage requirements, though the outlet's report does not specify who currently faces that liability.

A Difficult Stretch for Detroit Youth

The shooting landed in the middle of what FOX 2 Detroit characterized as a brutal weekend for Detroit investigators, following a quadruple drive-by that wounded a minor and a separate murder-suicide investigation involving a 14-year-old. Earlier in August, Detroit police arrested another 13-year-old boy in Ohio after he allegedly shot his father on the city's west side and fled state lines in the family vehicle, according to ClickOnDetroit.

The pattern echoes other recent Michigan cases. Hoodline has reported on a 6-year-old's fatal shooting after a child accessed an unsecured firearm in a vehicle, and on a Jackson toddler shot after finding a gun hidden in a couch. Statewide, a February 2026 study by Everytown Research & Policy found unintentional child shootings in Michigan dropped 60 percent to 10 incidents in 2025, down from a record high of 25 the year the safe storage law first took effect.

Free Locks and a Community Safety Event

Detroit Police is hosting a family-friendly event at the Rouge Range on Saturday, offering free gun locks and safety tips, part of the department's ongoing “Make Them Safe, Keep Them Safe” workshop series scheduled for Rouge Park on August 29. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services also launched an interactive statewide Gun Lock Distribution Map in April, identifying more than 150 locations statewide where residents can pick up free cable-style locks supplied by the Michigan State Police.

The City of Detroit separately announced plans this summer to distribute nearly 2,000 free gun locks to households through a partnership with the Detroit Public Safety Foundation and Henry Ford Health, combining lock giveaways with outreach across public and charter schools. Beginning this school year, Michigan Public Act 258 of 2024 also requires all K-12 schools, public and private, to send parents and guardians an annual notice on secure firearm storage.