By Canadian Press

Police: Tip led to arrest of man in random Detroit shootings

Aug 29, 2022 | 11:01 AM

DETROIT (AP) — A 19-year-old man suspected in the random shootings of four people, three fatally, was captured after a tip from someone close to him, police said Monday.

Chief James White also said that the man may have been suffering from mental illness, though he said an investigation is still underway into a motive for shootings that erupted early Sunday and fueled anxiety across the city until the man was captured later that evening.

Police said the first shooting came at 4:45 a.m. when a 28-year-old man was shot by an assailant without provocation, with the shooter walking away, then coming back and firing more shots into the victim.

About 30 minutes later and three blocks away, police got their first 911 call for shots fired and found a woman in her 40s on a sidewalk suffering from gunshot wounds. A third victim, a woman in her 40s waiting for a bus a short distance away to the east, was shot soon after.

Police said they realized they were dealing with an essential active shooter situation with 9mm shell casings at each site that they quickly established came from the same gun. They said when they arrested the suspect, they quickly matched a gun recovered from him with the casings, making them confident that “the suspect we have in custody is our suspect,” White said.

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“The shootings touched the hearts of everybody in the city, innocent people going about their lives on a Sunday morning, being shot for no other other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Mayor Mike Duggan said.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

A person waiting for the bus and another walking their dog were among four people shot, three fatally, by a man who appeared to fire randomly over about 2 1/2 hours in Detroit, police said.

Police arrested a suspect Sunday night after an hourslong manhunt. Chief James White said tips led officers to the suspect, though no other information was released.

“This did not need to happen,” White said. “Once again, Detroiters are reeling after lives were senselessly taken at random from our community.”

White said investigators traced all four early Sunday shootings to one firearm but believed them to be random because there was no apparent connection among the victims.

A 40-year-old woman was shot multiple times and killed around 4:45 a.m. Sunday, followed two hours later by the fatal shooting of another 40-year-old woman, police said.

Around 7:30 a.m., a 28-year-old man was killed, White said.

A 76-year-old man said he saw a man peering into vehicles. When he told the suspicious person to get away from the cars, the gunman fired at him, police said. He survived.

Mayor Mike Duggan credited “critical information” from the community and multiple law enforcement agencies with helping police take the suspect into custody.

“As we mourn our three neighbors who were killed, we should take the time to appreciate all the men and women in law enforcement whose work today made sure no other families will suffer at the hands of this shooter,” Duggan said.

The Associated Press