DETROIT, MICHIGAN — Just before 8:00 pm Monday, what began as a verbal dispute between two women over food ended with one of them negligently shooting her 20-month-old daughter.
DPD Captain Ian Severy described the incident, which occurred in the 4200 block of Tyler Street, saying, “Officers from the Tenth Precinct received a police-run for neighbor trouble, a person armed with a hammer. While en route that was updated to shots fired.”
According to police, the argument originated over an Uber Eats order. At some point in the confrontation one of the women grabbed a hammer. The other woman, a concealed pistol license holder, produced a handgun and fired multiple shots. Her daughter, seated in a gray Dodge Charger, was hit in the hip by a bullet from the mother’s gun. The child was transported by responding officers to Henry Ford Hospital in critical condition.
“I don’t know if I can adequately find the words for the feeling I get anytime a child or an innocent person of any sort, is the victim of violence. It’s quite frankly, disgusting.”, said Severy.
Police recovered the hammer and the handgun and have said that the hammer was not used to inflict injury. The gun-wielding woman has been arrested, although the exact charges that will be filed were not disclosed.
Severy added, “There are a lot of people lawfully carrying firearms and I encourage people that are able to so lawfully, with that comes a great deal of responsibility, what the actions may be and what the consequences may be.”
As is so often true, when adults fail to exercise good judgment, it is often their innocent children who suffer the most painful consequences. The use or threatened use of any weapon, be it a hammer or a gun, to settle a trivial dispute is nothing less that a blatant display of immaturity, irresponsibility, and poor judgement.
