Community comes together to support family of young man fatally beaten after crash in Detroit

White ribbons put up to honor Wingate

BERKLEY, Mich. – A community came together Tuesday night to honor a 24-year-old man who was beaten to death after a car crash in Detroit.

Tyler Wingate was a Berkley native and the community is putting up white ribbons to honor the young man after he met a violent end.

Tyler Wingate (WDIV)

Police said Wingate was killed by 23-year-old Lawrence James Davis Monday at 1:50 a.m. at the Pure Gas Station of West Davison and Livernois in Detroit.

Tim Koerner considered Wingate to be family and can't believe how the young man's life ended. He said Wingate impacted many people in the community and was loved by everybody who knew him.

"Our boys went to school together, kids, grew up together," Koerner said. "Tyler was loved by everybody."

Surveillance video shows a man approaching Wingate at the gas station after the two got into a minor car crash. Davis allegedly punches Wingate, sending him to the ground. Then Davis allegedly stomped on the young victim and left him for dead.

Lawrence James Davis, 23. (Detroit police)

  • Police are searching for Lawrence James Davis.
  • After the attack, Davis was seen fleeing the area on foot with three other men, according to witnesses.
  • Anyone with information is asked to contact the Detroit Police Department Homicide Unit at 313-596-2260.

Friends of Wingate started a GoFundMe page called Losing Tyler to help pay for funeral costs.

A friend of the family said Wingate played basketball and loved the outdoors. She said this is a tough time for the family and he will be missed by family and a lot of friends.



About the Authors:

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.