3 Hurt In Detroit Fireworks Shootings: Video

DETROIT, MI — Three shootings in two unrelated incidents Monday broke a record of relative calm at the annual Ford Fireworks display that draws thousands to Detroit’s downtown, but didn’t seem to negatively affect the public’s overall sense of safety, Police Chief James Craig said at a news conference Tuesday.

“For the most part, the feedback I’m getting, even after the shooting incident, people felt like it was safe,” Craig told reporters.

Perceptions about downtown safety can vary greatly, though. Craig says violent crime in Detroit is down 7 percent overall from the same period a year ago, and that it has remained relatively low in the downtown area over the last few years.

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Still, a recent spate of violence have raised anxiety about safety in the downtown entertainment district. Of six people shot since Sunday., four were innocent bystanders who had been caught in crossfire during an evening out in the downtown entertainment district. Besides a 47-year-old woman who was shot in the stomach Monday in Hart Plaza, the others were three people in their 20s who were shot Sunday as they stood in front of their party bus in Greektown.

In all cases, police said they were in the right place at the wrong time, the Detroit Free Press reported.

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Craig said at the news conference that he plans to add 20 downtown beat officers and is looking at other ways to improve safety downtown. Innocent bystanders have been shot in every part of the city, he said, not just downtown.

“I’m not going to leave you with the message that downtown’s unsafe because it’s not,” he said.

In the first shooting Monday, five gunshots were fired outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building at Woodward and Jefferson avenues just minutes before the 9:55 p.m. fireworks starting time. Police said two persons of interest were involved in an argument and one of them pulled out a gun, which discharged and injured the innocent bystander, who was rushed to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and is in stable condition, Craig said.

WDIV-TV posted video from social media of the exact moment the shots rang out.

With about 1,100 Detroit police officers and other law enforcement personnel patrolling downtown during the fireworks display, police were able to respond quickly.

The two people taken into custody were later released, an adult and juvenile, who was arrested for a curfew violation, Craig said at the news conference, WDIV-TV reported.

About an hour later, two people were shot in a vehicle at the corner of Fort Street and Cass Avenue. An argument ensued between people standing outside the vehicle and the man and woman inside. Shots fired from outside struck the two, one of whom suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach and the other who was graze by a bullet.

Police said it doesn’t appear the second shooting was related to the fireworks, and occurred outside the official footprint of the Ford Fireworks event. No one was taken into custody in the second incident.

Assistant Police Chief Arnold Williams told the Free press that a few “knuckleheads” jeopardize the safety of others at big downtown events.

“It more than just boggles my mind,” he said, calling the shootings “senseless acts of stupidity (and) ignorance.”

“Knuckleheads come downtown when you have a family environment where people are trying to enjoy a special event, they get into an argument and resolve their argument by drawing a gun,” Williams said. “It’s just idiotic.”

Detroit police didn’t make a single arrest during the 2016 fireworks show, and events in 2015 and 2014 also came off without major incidents, The Detroit News reported. However, the record of violence doesn’t date that far back, including:

The 2016, 2015 and 2014 fireworks shows went on without incident after violent incidents in several of the years prior, including:

• In 2013, a group of teens tossed fireworks into spectators, causing a stampede among spectators; there were numerous brawls, including one that ended when a 37-year-old man about a mile east of downtown accidentally shot himself in the leg; and about 200 teens were arrested on curfew violations.
• In 2011, a 16-year-old girl was shot in the leg near the Renaissance Center;
• In 2004, nine people were shot as they gathered in Hart Plaza, drawing national attention to gun violence in Detroit. One of the individuals died of complications.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)