DETROIT – Community members searched for answers after three senseless incidents occurred over the past 48 hours in Detroit, where the victims were a young child, a teenager, and a woman.
The string of incidents started Wednesday (May 22) morning when a 6-year-old boy found a gun and accidentally shot his thumb.
Then, a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed while walking home from East English Village Preparatory Academy (The Ville) at Finney High School on Wednesday afternoon off the I-94 Service Drive near King Richard Street.
Finney was closed on Thursday as his classmates and staff mourned his life.
A 30-year-old woman was found dead Thursday behind a vacant home on Detroit’s east side. Also, there were two other people shot on Detroit’s west side.
Local 4 was at the scene on Mapleridge Street on the city’s east side as Detroit police homicide detectives arrived behind a vacant home where her body was found.
Officials say a man was seen beating her with a brick almost a month ago.
Elijah Reese was shot and killed around 4 p.m. on Wednesday while walking home from high school.
Toson Knight was the teen’s dean at East English Village Preparatory Academy and his mentor.
“I went out there to see, and of course, you saw him just out there it was heartbreaking,” said Knight.
Knight said he rushed to where Reese was shot as he encountered the teen’s mother, father, and sister.
“It just broke my heart seeing him all alone and just kind of wrapped up; it was very sad,” Knight said.
At 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, the 6-year-old found a gun in his grandmother’s home and shot himself in the thumb.
“These are not toys but weapons, and they can kill,” said Detroit police Western Operation Deputy Chief Jacqueline Pritchett.
Reese, his friends, and classmates at East English Academy were devastated.
“He could easily be in school today,” Knight said.
Detroit police said Reese and his friend were walking when three men approached them where the “Weed house” was before they padded them down and shot Reese.