This is a breaking story from Law Enforcement Today.
DETROIT, MI.- The Detroit Free Press is reporting that tensions are high in Detroit Friday afternoon after police officers shot a man while investigating a deadly Fourth of July block party. The incident quickly escalated with the usual assortment of anti-police protesters showing up amid increasing tension between police and the community.
According to Detroit police chief James Craig, the man who was shot was an alleged gang member who pulled a semiautomatic weapon out of his waistband and started shooting at police, who then returned fire.
Of course, none of that matters in the post-George Floyd era. Demonstrators, who were clearly unaware of the circumstances surrounding the shooting, converged in the area, specifically the 12th Precinct and stood in the rain chanting “No Justice, No Peace,” as well as “Black Lives Matter” while officers stood by adorned in riot gear.
“We don’t back down to bullies with shields!” the crowd yelled.
This is where we are at in 2020, and actually where we have been for a long time. Police officers are no longer allowed to defend themselves. On top of that, you have people getting on social media and spreading information without having facts, and this is what it leads to.
Chief Craig was scheduled to hold a press conference at 7:30 p.m. at police headquarters, where he has promised to release a video of the incident, as well as a photograph of the suspect just moments before he was killed. Police sources confirmed that the photo shows a man holding a gun. The video is shown below.
**CAUTION GRAPHIC CONTENT**
@NewsM101 footage of the shooting in question has been released too
— udednow (@udednow) July 11, 2020
None of that will matter to the anti-police mob, however. If the suspect is black, it makes no difference the circumstances surrounding the incident. The mob wants their pound of flesh.
In an earlier press conference Friday, Craig said that police went to a west side neighborhood to arrest a suspect wanted in connection with the killings on the Fourth of July.
He said that while officers were approaching the suspect, a second person arrived at the scene and pulled a semi-automatic pistol from his waist and started firing over his shoulder at police.
“The officer pushed him away, that’s when the additional officers, fearing for their lives…fired several rounds, striking the suspect,” Chief Craig told reporters. “We’re still very early in this investigation…Based on what I know right now, this suspect was unprovoked and just fired on the officers.”
Police have recovered the weapon the suspect used on police, along with spent shell casings from that weapon. None of that will matter, however.
Riot geared police and protesters clash pic.twitter.com/VZmbM7mP1b
— Darcie Moran (@darciegmoran) July 10, 2020
A man who said he was the victim’s uncle, Asar Amenra did not believe the police account of the incident.
“We hear one thing from the police, and another thing from the community. The community told us that the police pulled up, told (him) to get on the ground. He put his hands up, and these mother f**kers shot him in the back of the head. He has got two shots in the back of his head, plus other bullet wounds.”
Amenra said the time for peaceful protesting is over. He has obviously not been watching the news for the past five weeks.
“We aren’t doing any Martin Luther King peaceful sh*t no more. These young people are ready for war,” he said.
The victim was identified by Amenra as 20-year-old Hakim Littleton, whom he said—get ready for it—was a “typical young kid” who worked all the time and was “doing his thing.”
Craig said that in keeping with department protocol, the officers involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave pending a further investigation.
The shooting under investigation came about from a party on July 4 where an argument broke out shortly after midnight which erupted in gunfire. Eight people were shot, with three of them succumbing to their wounds.
Police subsequently received a tip while conducting surveillance in the area and zeroed in on a suspect, which led them back to the scene Friday to effect an arrest.
The suspect was, according to Craig, wanted on an outstanding felony warrant and had ties to a local gang. As police moved in to arrest him, the officers observed the second suspect walking in their direction. That individual was an associate of the wanted suspect, who also had gang ties.
A police officer approached the second suspect to question him, at which point a struggle ensued and the suspect pulled the gun from his waistband and fired at police.
The man who officers initially approached about the shooting was taken into custody without incident. None of the officers sustained any injuries in the incident. Police have not released the identities of the suspects.
Craig acknowledged that there has been “a lot of violence in our city. That’s certainly a concern.”
Of course, it would not be a police shooting without a politician getting involved.
State Representative LaTanya Garrett, who represents the district where the shooting occurred, is asking for an “independent and transparent” investigation into the shooting.
“It saddens me to hear of anyone losing their life. My heart and prayers go out to the family of the deceased and to the police officers who were injured during this violent exchange,” Garrett said in a statement.
“I call upon the Mayor and the Chief of Police to ensure this matter is properly investigated in a fair and impartial manner. If outside law enforcement agencies are needed to oversee this matter…I call upon our city leaders to ensure this is done expeditiously.
The family of the deceased deserves answers and our community deserves answers.”
Law Enforcement Today will update this story as more information becomes available. Meanwhile, we pray for our brothers and sisters in Detroit.
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