Detroit police announce block party crackdown after shooting that kills 2, injures 19

Detroit police will now respond to incidents at block parties as "priority one" calls in the aftermath of the mass shooting on the city's east side, where two people were killed and 19 others injured.

Police consider priority one calls life-threatening incidents and respond faster. The city also announced Monday that it created an 80-officer unit dedicated to preventing safety threats that stem from illegal block parties.

Neighborhood response teams will be sent out to every precinct starting this weekend, according to city officials.

Detroit police say they have already taken some actions to crack down on unlawful block parties during the summer months. Authorities intend to prosecute the hosts of the parties and the property owners, officials said Monday.

Over 100 shell casings were found at the scene of the mass shooting, Detroit Police Chief James White said at a Monday news conference. He confirmed there were multiple shooters but did not provide further details. No suspects are in custody, police said.

White said nine guns were recovered at the scene. One had a Glock switch, rendering the weapon automatic. The victims included a 20-year-old woman and a 21-year-old male, who were both killed. A 17-year-old remains in critical condition. The ages of the victims ranged from 17 to 27, according to Detroit police.

Of the victims, 15 were women. Six of them were men.

"This is not who we are," White said.

Both Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and White said unlawful block parties are becoming increasingly violent, holding neighborhoods "hostage."

Since May, White said police received over 500 calls stemming from block parties. And during the Fourth of July weekend, police responded to six separate shootings at block parties. There were a total of 27 victims at those six parties, including three people who died, Duggan said.

“We had a level of violence last week that we rarely see anymore in Detroit,” Duggan said. “And it’s caused a great deal of pain for the victims and their families and it’s caused a great deal of pain to the entire Detroit community.”

“But what’s especially troubling is that the violence was generated almost entirely by a growing form of illegal activity in the city and that is the illegal block party.”

Detroit police were already in the area of Sunday's mass shooting responding to another shooting at a block party when they received a call at about 2:30 a.m. near the intersection of Rossini Drive and Reno Street, where the 21 people had been shot.

The block party was preplanned, White said. Details regarding the party were posted on Instagram, asking partygoers to message them for an address. Over 300 people had been at the block party, drawing people from over 50 miles away.

Those who grew up in Detroit say Sunday's shooting is one of Detroit's worst.

"I think this is the worse shooting ever in Detroit history," David Daniels, 43, a native of the city's "Red Zone" — a historically deadly area of the east side where the shooting took place.

"I don't recall anything worse."

Police say violence at other block parties has been a problem. In early June, two west-side parties resulted in a total of nine people killed. And a woman was killed in another mass shooting during a party in Detroit's east side a few weeks later, where four others were injured.

Other mass shootings in metro Detroit in recent months include the Rochester Hills splash pad tragedy, where a gunman opened fire at the park and injured nine people, including children, and another in Lathrup Village, where six people ranging in their teens to early 20s were shot during a pool party.

Two days ago, the department sent out an advisory on social media, reminding the public that block parties require approval from the city and police. House parties that spill into the street and become block parties often result in violence, the advisory said, because of their size. Victims are often bystanders and innocent children, the advisory said.

Detroit police provided seven tips on how to keep summer events safe, including: "Keep your event on your property" and "Only invite people you know, and who know you. Don't invite guests who have conflicts with others."

Sandy Turner, a resident of the neighborhood and community organizer, told the Free Press that her neighbors did what they were supposed to do: call the police.

"If you see something, say something. That's what they did," Turner said.

She said police were called multiple times prior to the shooting and welcomed the changes White announced on Monday.

In an impassioned plea to the public, Teferi Brent, another longtime community organizer in Detroit, on Monday called for an "all hands on deck" response to violence in the city.

"Until we address the root cause issues, we will continue to be here talking about prosecuting folks and locking people up — we will be back here over and over and over again," he said.

Issues that need to be addressed include poverty, illiteracy, substance abuse, unstable home lives and mental health, he said.

"We should not be here talking about 21 folks being killed. That is not a mass shooting, that is a war zone. Our babies should not be raised and forced to live in war zones," he said.

Other community leaders responded to Sunday's shooting, including state Rep. Mai Xiong, D-Warren, whose district includes the area. She said the community must "unite and make meaningful action to prevent these occurrences."

“I am deeply saddened and heartbroken by the recent shooting near Detroit’s northeast side," Xiong said in a statement. "My heart goes out to the victims, their families and everyone affected by this senseless act of violence. During what should have been a joyous celebration during Independence Day weekend, we are instead faced with a devastating reminder that gun violence is hitting too close to home, right in our own backyards.

And Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield tweeted that: "This unspeakable tragedy is yet another reminder that gun violence is an epidemic in Detroit and across this Nation. We must chart a new course of action and I'm calling for an all-hands-on-deck approach to ending the senseless killings and destruction of families in our community."

Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. She can be contacted atasahouri@freepress.com.