An 11-year-old boy is in critical condition after being shot in the face by his 9-year-old brother Wednesday afternoon, while the two were home alone with a 4-year-old sibling in the 8000 block of Artesian Street on Detroit's west side. A neighbor called 911 at about 2:19 p.m. after hearing the gunshot, and officers arrived within minutes to find three children inside the house with no adult present.
The wounded boy was rushed to a hospital and remains in critical condition, according to CBS News Detroit. Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison did not identify which child was shot or which child fired the handgun, and as of Wednesday evening police had made no arrests in connection with the shooting. Separate local reporting from Metro Detroit News specified that it was the 9-year-old who fired the gun that struck his 11-year-old brother.
Chief Calls Shooting Preventable
“This is so preventable,” Bettison said, addressing the shooting at a briefing covered by CBS News Detroit. He called on gun owners citywide to inventory their weapons and make sure every firearm in the home is secured, noting that owners may not even know how many guns they have lying around. Bettison recommended using a gun lock or a gun safe as the simplest fix.
The October shooting occurred in the 8000 block, while another child was hurt by an unsecured firearm seven months earlier on the same street. In March, a 6-year-old girl on the 8800 block of the same street found an unsecured gun and shot herself in the shoulder and thumb, according to the station's earlier report from FOX 2 Detroit. That case led to felony safe-storage charges against her father, Marcellis Dushaun Williams. Hoodline covered that shooting in March.
What Michigan's Safe-Storage Law Requires
Michigan's safe storage law, Public Act 17 of 2023, took effect in February 2024 and requires gun owners to store unattended firearms unloaded and locked, or inside a locked container, whenever a minor under 18 is likely to be present, per the University of Michigan Firearm Injury Prevention program. Under that statute, an adult who leaves an unsecured gun accessible to a minor who then causes serious impairment of a body function can face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $7,500.
Whether charges will follow in this case remains unknown, consistent with the Williams prosecution on the same street earlier this year. It is also unclear who owns the weapon used Wednesday or whether it was legally acquired.
A Pattern Playing Out Across Detroit
This is not an isolated incident in the city this year. On August 26, a 13-year-old girl was hospitalized after being shot in the arm on Chatham Street while playing with an unsecured firearm alongside an older sibling, leading to one arrest at the scene, as Hoodline reported in August. That same month, the Detroit Police Department hosted a “Make Them Safe, Keep Them Safe” event at Rouge Park, handing out free gun locks and offering hands-on firearm safety education to local families.
Statewide, the numbers tell a more encouraging story even as local incidents persist. An Everytown Research & Policy report published in February found unintentional child shootings in Michigan dropped 60 percent, from 25 incidents in 2024 to 10 in 2025, following the safe-storage law's rollout. Research cited by Michigan health officials shows that storing firearms unloaded, locked and separate from ammunition cuts unintentional child firearm injuries by 85 percent and self-inflicted firearm injuries by 78 percent.
The state has also tried to make compliance easier. In April, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services launched an interactive Gun Lock Distribution Map listing more than 150 public locations where residents can pick up free cable-style firearm locks. Starting with the current school year, Michigan Public Act 258 of 2024 also requires every K-12 school in the state, public and private, to send parents an annual notice explaining the safe-storage law.
It remains unclear whether Child Protective Services has been notified regarding the three children, ages 11, 9 and 4, who were left home alone at the time of Wednesday's shooting. Police have not announced any arrests as the investigation continues.
