Straight up.
Gunfire wounds 7 Detroit teens; 3 critical
BY CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY AND ZLATI MEYER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • June 30, 2009
Seven teenagers were wounded — three critically — after they were sprayed with gunfire this afternoon by two masked men at a bus stop near Cody 9th Grade Academy on the city’s west side.
Police later recovered a green minivan about a mile away that they believed the gunmen used to flee.
Five of the seven victims were taking classes at Cody. Two boys, ages 14 and 16, and a girl, 17, were in critical condition at Sinai-Grace Hospital.
Four other victims were taken to Henry Ford Hospital. A 17-year-old boy was in serious condition, a 17-year-old girl was in temporary serious condition, and a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl were in stable condition, Detroit police said.
It was the second shooting in as many weeks near a Detroit Public school offering free summer school classes.
Bria Wilson, 15, said she never saw a green minivan, or even the gunmen who fired the shots. But the sound of gunshots meant it was time to run.
Wilson got away, but she said her 16-year-old friend, a boy, was hit multiple times – one of the seven teenagers who were shot, reportedly by two gunmen who had their faces cloaked.
“I was standing at the bus stop next to him,” Wilson said. “That bullet came too close. I’m not coming back to this school.”
Today’s shooting was the second in two weeks at a Detroit Public Schools high school building offering free summer classes to make-up for failed courses. Free summer classes have drawn thousands of high school students, placing teens from different schools and neighborhoods in the same buildings.
On June 18, a 16-year-old girl was shot in the chest after summer school dismissal at Denby High when two groups of teens clashed about a block from the east side school.
The shooting occurred about 15 minutes after summer school’s 2 p.m. dismissal when a group was at the bus stop on the Southfield Freeway service drive at Warren near a gas station. A green minivan pulled up and two masked shooters opened fire, according to Detroit Police Department spokesman Rod Liggons.
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The shooting may have stemmed from a fight in the school Monday, according to witnesses.
Two women who jumped out of a car to help the injured teens described the shooting scene as heart wrenching. One boy appeared to be bleeding from his neck, left side, chest and hand, they said.
“We seen the babies laying on the ground … bleeding!” said one of the women, who declined to be identified. “We stopped because the kids tried to move him. I told them, ‘No, please don’t move him!’”
“He was talking. We were just trying to keep him calm,” the other woman said. “I’m a parent. I wouldn’t have felt right if we didn’t stop to help them.”
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Detroit Police at 313-596-2260.
Contact CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY: 313-223-4537 or cpratt@freepress.com
Warren Avenue over the Southfield Freeway (M-39) is closed due to the shooting. In addition, the M-39 off-ramp (Exit 8) to Southfield is closed.