Hart Plaza Shooting Suspect Charged With Murder
Shooting Victim Dies Unexpectedly, Changing Charges
POSTED: Wednesday, September 8, 2004
The suspect in the shootings at Hart Plaza on June 23 was charged with murder on Wednesday after one of the victims unexpectedly died, Local 4 reported.
Daron Caldwell, 32, of Detroit, requested the court not read aloud the amended charges against him in court. He also chose to stand silent as the judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Caldwell was charged with nine counts of assault with intent to commit murder. One of those counts was amended to second-degree murder after a medical examiner ruled that Donald Murphy, 48, died of complications from his bullet wound in August, the station reported.
Caldwell and his friends and family members have maintained that he is innocent.
His attorney, Marlon Blake Evans, said that Caldwell was seen by a clerk at the Shorecrest Motor Inn on Jefferson Avenue checking into the hotel with several friends a few hours before the shooting. Friends of Caldwell say he never left and that he watched the fireworks display from the Shorecrest parking lot.
Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings has said that witnesses identified Caldwell as the shooter.
One of the shooting victims has remained hospitalized, undergoing rehabilitation at the Detroit Medical Center. She is expected to be released sometime Wednesday afternoon, according to Local 4 reports.
Caldwell is being held on a $100 million bond.
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