Teen's Murder in 'Robbery Gone Bad' Casts Pall Over Holidays in the Grosse Pointes

Paige Stalker, shown here in a screenshot of a Facebook profile photo, died Monday when a lone gunman opened fire on her and four others as they were parked in a desolate area of Detroit.

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Police said Wednesday that unless a witness steps forward, they may never know who killed a Grosse Pointe Woods teen Monday night and injured three others in a spray of gunfire authorities now say resulted from a “robbery gone bad.”

The murder of 16-year-old Paige Stalker three days before Christmas has cast a pall over the idyllic Grosse Pointes communities, and has stunned classmates and staff at University Liggett School, an exclusive private school where Stalker maintained a straight-A record, played on the school’s lacrosse team and aspired to become a doctor.

“It’s really a tough time,” University Liggett junior Alexander Minanov, 16, told the Detroit Free Press. “It was just so shocking. I’ve been talking to a bunch of my classmates and everybody is shocked and still a little in denial.

“It’s just really sad that instead of planning for Christmas, the family has to plan for a funeral,” said Minanov, a classmate of Stalker’s since the two teens were freshmen.

Teen: “I Didn’t Know What to Do”

Police said Stalker died of a gunshot wound to the head after the gunman armed with a semi-automatic rifle fired about 30 shots into the car in which she and four others were passengers. One of the other injured teens, a 16-year-old, remains hospitalized in Grosse Pointe, and two others have been released. A fifth teen was not injured.

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Police said the teens – four of them from the Grosse Pointes and a fifth from Detroit – were stopped in the desolate area of Philip near Charlevoix about 9:15 p.m. Monday and were smoking pot in their vehicle when a gold-colored Cadillac pulled in front of them, and a gunman stepped out and began firing.

One of the survivors of the attack, Demetrius Herndon, recalled the terrifying moments before the shooting began. He told WJBK-TV that he and his friends were “scared” when the gunman “rolled right past us” and then stopped – “not directly right in front of us.”

“He got out of the car. He had a gun in his hand,” Herndon said. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Police: Why Teens Were in Area “Parental Issue”

Initially, police said it appeared the teens had been targeted.

But on Wednesday, authorities said there’s nothing in the investigation to suggest the victims knew the alleged assailant. The attack may have been a random crime of opportunity, they said.

Detroit police spokesman Officer Adam Madera told The Detroit News the apparent random nature of the crime will make it more difficult to solve. He urged anyone with information about the crime to come forward.

Related:

• Grosse Pointe Teen Killed As 30 Shots Pumped Into Vehicle

“That’s what it’s going to come down to now,” Madera said. “We’ll likely have to rely on a witness we don’t have yet.”

At first, the teens gave police conflicting statements, but in subsequent interviews, their stories were “more consistent,” Madera said.

The suspect is described as a black man, about 6 feet tall, wearing a black hat and Army-type fatigues and driving a tan or gold vehicle, possibly a Cadillac. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP (1-800-773-2587).

Madera said why the teens were in an area with a high crime rate is “not the focus” of the investigation at this point.

“The fact is, they were there,” he said. “Why they were there is more of a parental issue than a police issue.”

“Too Much to Handle”

Memorial tributes – red carnations, a copy of Stalker’s Facebook photo, notes of love and condolence – are being left at the area where the teen died, about three blocks from Detroit’s border with Grosse Pointe Park.

In Grosse Pointe Woods, nearly 60 people prayed and sang songs of comfort at a candlelight vigil for the victims in front of City Hall Monday night.

Students and friends poured out their grief and surprise on social media. The #RIPPaige hashtag on Twitter provided an online forum for the expression of grief.

“I can’t be in the Christmas spirit knowing my friend is in the hospital and her friend is in the morgue,” Kelli Williams of Grosse Pointe tweeted. “Too much to handle.”

“It’s so sad to think that the world is messed up and the game is dangerous,” another classmate tweeted. “As a fellow Liggett Knight, my heart is saddened.”

“Yesterday, a sweet girl was taken from us,” Armaity Minwalla tweeted Tuesday. “She was a great person who had so much going for her. I cannot believe this.”

University Liggett School students and staff “are heartbroken over the death of one of our students, and our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends and to the entire Liggett community during this very difficult time,” said Michelle Franzen Martin, director of marketing and communications.