INKSTER, Mich. (AP) — A suspected gunman was in custody on
Wednesday after police and a witness said he casually walked up to a
suburban Detroit home, fatally shot a 2-year-old girl at close range and
injured two more people including a 12-year-old girl.
The shooter
fired multiple times at the three people on the porch of the home in
Inkster Tuesday night, said Michigan State Police spokesman Lt. Mike
Shaw.
The toddler, Kamiya LaShawn Gross, died at the scene, Shaw
said. The older girl was hospitalized in critical condition and a
30-year-old man was in stable condition, he said.
Their names were
not released, but Shaw said the man was the toddler’s father and also
related to the 12-year-old girl who lived at the home.
A shooting
at an after-hours club that wounded three people in April may have
spurred Tuesday’s shooting, said Inkster Police Chief Hilton Napoleon.
Inkster is 13 miles southwest of Detroit.
"This appeared to be an issue of retaliation," Napoleon said.
Both
the suspect in Tuesday’s shooting and the adult victim were present
during the incident in April, he added. The identity of the suspect has
not been released by police.
Kamiya’s mother, Erica Gross, told WDIV-TV that she dropped her daughter off at the home Tuesday
afternoon.
"My
heart is broken, my heart is gone," Gross said. "I’m a young mother.
That was the best two years of my life, and it’s taken away from me."
Andy
Anderson, 51, of Detroit, said he was visiting family in the area when
the shooting happened. He told the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit
News that a man walked up to children playing in the yard and first shot
the 2-year-old at close range.
"He shot the baby," Anderson said. "I thought, ‘No, he didn’t.’ And then he turned the gun
and started shooting on the porch."
Anderson said he ducked behind a car.
He
said the gunman got out of a van driven by another person and walked up
to the home before the shooting, then returned to the van and left.
"He walked down the street casually with a gun in his hand," Anderson said.
Inkster
police got word of the shooting around 8:35 p.m. Tuesday. Police were
at the scene and canvassing the neighborhood Wednesday and they didn’t
release any information about a possible motive.
Community activist Aaron Simms said he was organizing a vigil for Thursday night outside the family’s
home.
"People are just shooting because they don’t know how to do anything else," Simms said.