DETROIT – At least 28 rounds were fired from an assault rifle and a .40-caliber weapon in an apparent drive-by shooting that left a 14-year-old dead and a 17-year-old critically wounded Monday morning, Detroit police and neighbors said.
“All I could say was, ‘holy sh*t, what the heck?’ I heard a barrage of gunfire,” a neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said.
Neighbors reported hearing the gunfire just after 7:30 a.m. on Littlefield and West Chicago on the city’s west side. Shot spotter technology brought police to the location along with 911 calls — including a call from the grandmother of one of the teens.
Police said the two teens had gotten into some sort of argument with someone and had been walking back from a nearby store when someone in a blue Lincoln SUV began spraying the teens with bullets.
One teen was struck in the neck, and witnesses described seeing the other boy “with blood all over his chest.”
“They were lying out in the lawn — one in the driveway. The two boys — Babies,” a neighbor said.
The 14-year-old later died at a hospital. The 17-year-old is alive but hanging on and listed as critical, police said.
Two neighbors said they have called police about problems at the Littlefield home before — citing fights and concerns about how many teens were staying there, along with “high traffic” at the home. But they said their calls to police have gone nowhere.
“Nothing happens. And so eventually, we knew that this was gonna happen, and it did,” a neighbor said.
Detroit police would not comment on past calls to the home, saying only that it is part of their ongoing investigation into the shooting.
Officers were seen questioning two people, but have made no arrests.
Homicide investigators were also seen pulling video from nearby green-light cameras. Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison said they are using technology and they’re working with federal partners and the prosecutor’s office to find and prosecute those responsible as soon as possible.
“I am extremely upset and disappointed that someone would gun down these young people,” said Chief Bettison. “This is premeditated murder. And when I do get the individuals - my intention is they spend the rest of their damn life in prison.”