Grieving mother still fighting for answers 3 years after son’s murder on New Year’s Eve in Detroit

David Grier was murder when his car was sprayed with bullets

DETROIT – Local 4 first brought you this story years ago about a young man killed in his car on New Year’s Eve of 2020.

When his mother picked up the vehicle from the Detroit Police Department’s impound lot, she found five shell casings and her son’s ID inside in plain sight.

All this time later, she’s still searching for answers.

“When he left home, normal day, smiling, happy, and ended up being deceased with no answers behind his killing,” said Temekia Grier.

It’s been three years since 20-year-old David Grier was murdered when his car was sprayed with bullets on New Year’s Eve of 2020.

His mother, Temekia, has been barely hanging on ever since.

“The pain is indescribable, 20 years old,” said Temekia. “Whole life ahead of him; Attended church, murdered in the streets of Detroit. No answers, no suspect, and it’s been nothing but agony.”

Although there have been no leads on finding the person(s) responsible, Temekia’s been looking for answers to another question about how DPD could have missed evidence with shell casings still in the car after she picked it up from the impound lot.

“Since then, I’ve had a lot of other parents that say they’re in the same situation as me that has not received any answers, basically being at the point where it’s like failure to investigate a crime,” Temekia said.

When we initially spoke to DPD, Commander Eric Decker said it shouldn’t have happened.

“Not exactly sure why these were not recovered,” said Decker in a 2021 interview. “When I spoke to Ms. Grier, she said that they were in plain sight. Those are something that our evidence techs should have observed and recovered.”

But now all this time has passed, and nothing. Even though Temekia realizes getting answers will not be easy, she is still holding on to hope that she’ll receive justice for her son.

“David was well loved by the community, by his church family, and we’re just standing here in hopes and prayers that someone will come forth with some type of good news and lead us in the right direction of who did this to my son,” Temekia said.

Detroit police could not comment on the matter but were told they are continuing their investigation.

Those with any info can report it anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1800-Speak-Up.


About the Authors:

Victor Williams joined Local 4 News in October of 2019 after working for WOIO in Cleveland, OH, WLOX News in Biloxi, MS, and WBBJ in Jackson, TN. Victor developed a love for journalism after realizing he was a great speaker and writer at an early age.

Brandon Carr is a digital content producer for ClickOnDetroit and has been with WDIV Local 4 since November 2021. Brandon is the 2015 Solomon Kinloch Humanitarian award recipient for Community Service.