‘Everyone deserves a safe summer’: Michigan officials respond to recent mass shootings

Detroit Police Chief James White speaks at a news conference about recent gun violence at illegal block parties in Detroit on Monday, July 8. (Screenshot from Detroit Police Department)

As one Michigan city tore down fencing around a splash pad where families ran for their lives from a shooter, another city grieves a block party shooting that left two dead and 19 wounded, the most victims in a shooting in state history.

Three weeks after seven adults and two children were shot by a man at Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills over Father’s Day weekend, multiple people fired shots at an illegal block party in Detroit early Sunday morning, Detroit Police Chief James White said at a news conference Monday.

“Everyone deserves to have a safe summer, a safe event,” White said, lamenting as a native Detroiter that tragedy struck so many young people. He noted that the victims include teenagers and people in their 20s.

9 shot at metro Detroit splash pad, including 4- and 8-year-old siblings and their mom

In the first week of July, six illegal summer block parties in Detroit have led to 27 individuals being shot, White said. These illegal gatherings are done without notice to the city and without permission from neighbors, rallying hundreds of attendees to block streets.

“We’re not talking about your typical barbecues. This is not what we’ve all grown up with and that we look forward to in Detroit. I mean, Detroit’s a beautiful town. In the summertime, everybody enjoys having these types of parties and barbecues. These are not the ones that we’re talking about,” White said. “We’re talking about events that have large numbers of people from around the state, as far as 50 miles away, that are showing up armed, many instances, with a sense of lawlessness taking over the streets, parking, blocking driveways and things such as that.”

White said Sunday’s shooting — where about 300 people were present and nine guns were recovered from the scene — has one of the highest victim counts from a mass shooting in the United States at 21 victims, according to the Gun Violence Archive from data dating back to 2014. It is the most victims of a mass shooting tracked for Michigan.

White and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan talked at the news conference about actions being taken by the city to crack down on illegal block parties and encouraging those interested in having gatherings to talk to their neighbors beforehand and report illegal gatherings.

The recent barrage of gun violence at illegal block parties are painful for all of Detroit, which has fought successfully in recent years to decrease violent crime , Duggan said.

“But in one week, in the first week of July, what we are seeing threatens to undo years of progress and we are saying today that we’re going to act to address it,” Duggan said.

Detroiters know they get a permit from the Detroit Police Department to shut down a street, with the consent of 75% of their neighbors to shut down a street for an event neighborhood police officers will coordinate the safety of those in attendance to celebrate with their neighbors, Duggan said. He encouraged Detroiters to be vigilant of these large gatherings late at night blocking off streets and making “hostages” of neighbors in their own homes as violent behavior persists outside.

“I want to make sure we can distinguish between what’s a legal party and what’s an illegal party, because in the city of Detroit, we enjoy summer in the neighborhoods. Backyard barbecues are a tradition in this city, and we want that tradition to continue. … We want those kinds of joyful events to go on the rest of the summer without incident. That is not what we are talking about here,” Duggan said.

“You know the difference between your neighbor’s family getting a little loud and a lot of strangers showing up in your street, parking on the grass and the sidewalk, blocking your driveway, underage kids out in front after curfew, loud noise in the neighborhood. You know the difference. Call 911. Call early.”

Detroit knows how to have safe large gatherings, White said, as the city welcomed thousands to the city last summer for concerts from Taylor Swift and Beyoncé and then set the attendance record for most attendees as it hosted 775,000 fans for the NFL draft in April.

Community leaders at the news conference called for early intervention in schools for conflict resolution and attention to community mental health, including Teferi Brent, who called on State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh to implement a Peaceable Schools Initiative in every Southeast Michigan school.

“We need all hands on deck. The police cannot do it on their own. The prosecutors and judges cannot do it on their own. … We need every individual, every leader, every servant, every institution in this city, to be involved in addressing this issue of violence in our community. This is the number one issue in our community,” Brent said. “We should not be here talking about 21 folks being [shot]. That is not a mass shooting. That is a war zone. Our babies should not be raised and forced to live in a war zone.”

Over in Oakland County, the last victim of the shooting at Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills was able to go home from the hospital on Friday. It was a mom who was seriously injured protecting her two sons, ages 4 and 8 , who also were shot by a man who open fired on families at the crowded splash pad .

The investigation into the shooting and the shooter, which the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office identified as Michael William Nash, 42, continues, but law enforcement has expressed that the shooting appears random and the county may never have the closure of understanding why he open fired on parents, grandparents and children that day.

“While we are incredibly pleased all shooting victims have been released from the hospital, we know there is a long road ahead on both the physical and psychological healing,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in a statement Friday. “Our support will remain with the victims, and we will continue to look for any information that gives insight into the motive of the shooter.”

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