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Deadly officer-involved shooting related to investigation of 5-year-old's death in Detroit

Posted at 5:51 AM, Sep 14, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-14 17:33:10-04

A fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred Friday morning is connected to the investigation of the death of a 5-year-old girl who was shot and killed Thursday night, police say.

Overnight, police served a search warrant at a home located at 9237 Evergreen in connection with the investigation of the 5-year-old's death.

According to police, the officer who entered first made an initial announcement of "search warrant, search warrant, search warrant," before breaching the door. 

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said once inside, officers saw a man seated or lying on a couch armed with an AK-47-type weapon, and the officer told him to get down several times before opening fire, killing the man.

According to Craig, body-cam footage was reviewed, and Craig could not see a weapon, but other officers reviewing different footage saw the weapon next to the man.

A family member of that man told 7 Action News that police made a mistake, and his brother has nothing to do with the 5-year-old's death.

During the case, police were able to arrest a woman in connection with the shooting death of the 5-year-old girl. Police later arrested a man, believed to be the shooter.

The officer is a 20-year veteran of the force and has been on the Special Response Team for the last seven years. During that time, he has not been involved in an officer-involved shooting.

Before his time in SRT, he was involved in an officer-involved shooting where a suspect opened fire on him and his partner and they returned fire. He was exonerated in the case, according to police.