Grief and outrage are rippling across Detroit’s east side following a tragic drive-by shooting that took the life of a 16-year-old girl who had already endured an unthinkable amount of personal tragedy.
Police say 16-year-old Kaliyah Embery was gunned down Tuesday evening in a drive-by shooting near her home. Another young man, who was her friend, was injured in the attack.
Investigators say multiple shots were fired indiscriminately into a vehicle, killing the teenager.
Watch 7 News Detroit reporter Randy Wimbley's story in the video below:
"So for these ones that did this senseless act, this drive-by shooting, firing multiple shots into a vehicle, not even knowing who's in the vehicle, not caring — we're going to throw the book at them," Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison said.
A life marked by grief
Embery's family shared the heartbreaking reality of the young teen's life, revealing that she had lost both her father and her mother a few years ago. Compounding the family's sorrow, her older sister died in a car crash earlier this year.
A wave of violence shakes Detroit
Quincy Smith, who leads Team Pursuit — one of Detroit’s Community Violence Intervention groups — noted that while this fatal drive-by did not happen within a designated CVI zone, its emotional impact is felt heavily across the entire city.
The tragedy adds to a grim and mounting wave of violent outbursts across Detroit over recent days:
- On Monday, a mother and her 7-year-old daughter, Alayah Porties, were shot inside their apartment during a dispute over children.
- Over the weekend, a Saturday night shooting left a man dead and three others injured, including a 14-year-old boy in critical condition.
- Last Friday, 18-year-old Donovan Moss was gunned down.
"I’m sick and I'm tired of the violence for individuals just simply not knowing how to regulate their own emotions and deal with their issues and their problems and their beefs from a conversation," Smith said. "That's a skill set that needs to be taught, and a lot of our young people lack that skill set."
Police step up patrols, community demands action
Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison announced that the 5th Precinct is stepping up patrols in the neighborhood where Kaliyah was killed, while homicide detectives aggressively work to track down the person or people responsible.
However, community leaders emphasize that law enforcement cannot do it alone.
"I think the community has a responsibility to call people out that, you know, they know. The hood knows, we got to start calling people out," Smith said. "If you cannot treat our seniors, our youth, women with respect and honor and be bearers of our community and uplift our community, then you don't deserve to be walking our streets freely."
"The community has to stand up and they gotta speak up and they gotta start turning folks in, plain and simple, cause this right here is out of control," Bettison said.
How to help
If you have any information about this shooting, you are urged to contact the Detroit Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP. Remember, you can always remain anonymous. Detroit Police is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
