News

Actions

Family remembers woman who died saving cousin from Detroit River

Posted at 8:16 PM, Mar 18, 2022
and last updated 2022-03-19 03:18:46-04

DETROIT (WXYZ) — The family of Diamond Shelton, 22, said they are overcome with grief as they try to process what happened Friday morning at Alfred Brush Ford Park in Detroit.

Her aunt created a Gofundme for help giving the Detroit mother and hero a proper burial.

"It's just a tragedy what happened, and she tried to save her cousin's life and that was a good deed," Denise Williams, Shelton's aunt, told 7 Action News.

"Diamond's a sweet kid. She just had a baby a year ago. She had a little girl. She's a sweet kid," Williams described.

At 3:45 a.m., Detroit police say they received a 911 call from A.B. Ford Park, which is along the Detroit River. Someone had fallen in.

"The person went to stand up and slipped into the water. And then, someone jumped into the water to attempt to save her. Somebody else also jumped into the water,” Commander Keeth Williams said.

Detroit police and fire crews pulled all three women out of the water. Shelton's cousin and the other woman survived. Sadly, Shelton didn't make it.

"We hurt right now. We're just really hurt and we want everybody to just keep us in prayers," Williams said. "We really don't know what happened. It's an ongoing investigation. So, we're just hoping that there was no foul play."

Police say this is preliminary information, and it’s undetermined whether alcohol was involved in this tragedy.