Man, Daughter Killed While Evicting Occupants of House Purchased in Wayne County Tax Sale

A 74-year-old man and his 37-year-old daughter were killed in a weekend gunfight as they tried to claim a home they’d purchased in a Wayne County tax auction this fall.

The two, whose names were not released, had a court order in their possession and were trying to evict the people living in the home, located in the 15000 block of Piedmont in Detroit’s historic Rosedale Park area, The Detroit News reports.

It’s unclear if the occupants of the home were the owners who lost it in an October tax sale or squatters.

Neighbors are worried similar encounters may follow. This fall, Wayne County officials began foreclosure actions on 75,000 homes – 62,000 of them in Detroit, and more than half of them occupied – to collect on back taxes.

Pam Weinstein, a board member of the Rosedale Park Improvement Association, told The Detroit News after this weekend’s fatal encounter that a “conflict dynamic is in a lot of locations.”

“The new buyers are going to want the previous owners out,” Weinstein said. “I hope it’s not a pattern.”

The pending foreclosures are also a concern for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who told the Detroit Free Press he strongly supports two bills Michigan lawmakers are expected to take up this week when they return to Lansing for a lame-duck session of the Legislature.

“We have to keep people in their homes – it’s really hard to stabilize the neighborhoods when you force people out through foreclosure,” Duggan said.

Related:

• Bills Before Lame-Duck Legislature Would Stave Off Another Housing Meltdown

Though different, both bills would allow county treasurers to eliminate penalties and interest as high as 18 percent that accumulate when property owners are in arrears on property taxes. Decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis, and homeowners would be required to follow a payment plan to repay the property taxes they owe.

Wayne County Chief Deputy Treasurer David Szymanski said the fatal shootings were “clearly a tragedy” and said that with the number of foreclosures increasing, “new owners should avail themselves of the courts and use the legal process to remove occupants.”

Detroit Police Sgt. Michael Woody said the woman called police around 3 p.m. Friday to ask assistance in evicting the occupants of the 800-square-foot house. They had agreed to leave, according to The Detroit News report, but began removing fixtures, so the woman called police several more times.

Woody said officers didn’t immediately respond because there were higher priority calls.

It’s unclear who fired the first of several rounds of gunfire. Both the man and his daughter, and the four occupants of the home were armed, according to The Detroit News report.

“We have spoken with numerous witnesses,” Woody said. “We are trying to get to the bottom of what took place.”

A 26-year-old woman who was an occupant of the house received non-life-threatening injuries.

Three of the four occupants of the home were arrested and charged on gun and theft charges and are expected to be arraigned Monday.

» For the full story, go to The Detroit News.