DETROIT (WXYZ) — A toddler is in serious condition after being struck by a stray bullet. Prior to this, Detroit police said fighting among a group of teens broke out a block over and then shots rang out.
Watch Darren's report, hear from police & watch our previous reporting
It happened Saturday, just before midnight, near the intersection of Marion and Fischer Street.
Some of those bullets hit Jacquese Gaskins' home.
She told 7 News Detroit, "Yes, yes it’s about 6 bullets that hit my house.”
One round pierced Gaskins' side window.
“My son was sitting on the couch. It went straight right through while he was sitting on the couch. Luckily he got down on the ground when he heard the shooting,” she explained.
Gaskins said prior to the shooting, around 10:30 Saturday night, a group of teens came onto her property after she said police dispersed them from another location.
“Knocking on my door asking 'can they just party over here?' We’re like, 'No, ya’ll can’t party over here,'" Gaskins recalled.
"We told them to move from around my house. I made them move from this side. So they went, all the cars went and they went down in the middle of the park. Now, I was like I’m just gone call the police. Called the police nobody showed up until after," she explained.
As a fight broke out among the teens and then the shooting, investigators said a family was enjoying fireworks over on Marion and Fischer Street.
Chief Todd Bettison said, “A Stray bullet comes over a block away and strikes the 2-year-old baby in front of their own home. Definitely I’m appalled by it, upset by it.”
The chief said the 2-year-old is in temporary serious condition and is expected to recover.
Gaskins is demanding action.
She said, “If they're going to put parks in the middle of the residential streets, then they need to have people patrolling. They need to have patrols out here. Don't just put parks out here and just leave 'em. Then you say it's a curfew but you don't enforce it.”
The chief said this incident is prompting stronger action from his department.
“As a result, this department will be stepping up our efforts tremendously when it comes to curfew violations," Bettison said.
He added, "Just the fact that we have a lot of unsupervised juveniles at a park, and I understand that it’s a holiday weekend and I understand that folks were out watching fireworks but at the same time, parents still have the responsibility to know where their children are and that they are supervised," Bettison explained.
The chief said two persons of interest have been detained.
