Detroit Infant Killed After Shots Fired Into Home

DETROIT — Attackers peppered a house on Detroit's west side with gunshots early Monday, killing a 9-month-old boy, police said.

Delric Miller was in the living room and other children and adults were at home when the shooting happened around 4:30 a.m., Sgt. Eren Stephens told reporters. The boy was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Police Chief Ralph Godbee said during an afternoon press conference that the shooting was gang-related. An AK-47 rifle was used in the attack. No arrests have been made.

"It's actually amazing – an act of God – that more people in that house were not killed," Godbee said. "Again, adult behavior has brought another child in Detroit to an end that is certainly incomprehensible for a lot of people."

Neighbors said they heard rapid gunfire. The assailants drove off after the attack, Stephens said.

Detroit saw a rise in homicides last year and continues to see an uptick in killings.

A 12-year-old girl was killed Jan. 31 after shots were fired into her Detroit home. Police have said that shooting stemmed from a misunderstanding about a mobile phone. A 19-year-old man and his 35-year-old mother have been charged in the killing.

There were 344 homicides in Detroit last year, compared with 308 in 2010. As of Feb. 12, 41 homicides were recorded. There were 33 at the same time last year.

"We as a community ... we have to come together to stop this senseless violence," Stephens said.

Comments

[RockVeritas]

09:24 PM on 03/26/2012

Where is Al not so Sharpton?.. Jessy and the protests???

[climbing panda]

03:18 PM on 02/21/2012

good luck with that "coming together" thing. detroit has been a cesspool for too long for anyone to think that there is any hope.

[Tracey Reitterer]

01:50 AM on 02/21/2012

Bms, I believe dhanuw's comment was referring to the fact that a 19 year old has a 35 year old mother - children having children - and we wonder why we're living in such a messed up society. SMH

[megsy123]

12:25 AM on 02/21/2012

The adults in the house had better step up and admit just what dirt they were into. I hope they are proud that a baby paid for their lifestyle, big achievement there.

[bettyboop68]

10:38 PM on 02/20/2012

So senseless!!

[bms2buy4]

07:45 PM on 02/20/2012

Senseless violence - caused by yellow chicken shooters. No harm to them (yet!) so they can shoot anything... AND usually with several together.
--
No men - just "boys" shooting at houses... thinking they are sooooo brave. HA HA HA - NOT

[phylliscooper1]

06:40 PM on 02/20/2012

This makes me think of my children when they were babies. I was just like all mothers worrying about them becoming ill or injured while learning to pull up and walk. Never, not once, did I fear that my babies would be shot and killed. Today, no parent can say with certainty that it could not happen to their child. Just last week, in my sleepy town in northwestern, Arkansas, a college bound, honors High School senior was shot buy a bullet entering her bedroom. The gun was fired from the townhouse next door. Fifteen shell casings were found at the scene. The teenager lived because the bullet lodged a millimeter from the main artery in her neck. The victim and her family were not the intended targets.

[makemesmile]

12:12 AM on 02/21/2012

Perhaps if the sales of drugs and guns had a deeper impact on a certain group of people, there would be more laws and attempts to stop the violence.

[nanaofmysky]

05:21 PM on 02/20/2012

How sad! only 9 months old,he was just starting to notice things around him. The adults in the house NEED to step up and say who it was. They know. There is no honour in protecting killers of innocent children and adults. Guns don't kill people,people kill people.Even with gun control. It is the illegal guns that kill. Law abiding gun owners are responsible enough to keep them safely locked away or in a safe place. I hope they find these murderers and put them away.

[makemesmile]

12:15 AM on 02/21/2012

Law-abiding gun owners aren't usually involved in the drug and gun dealing activities of the criminal element. The "power people" who are making a profit from the drugs and the guns aren't interested in the deaths of the innocent victims.

[nanaofmysky]

07:02 AM on 02/21/2012

I know that. I do not like guns and would never own one. But they get into the hands of idiot gang members who think they are so cool. They are the ones who kill for no good reason. Law-abiding gun owners have my respect.

[wdebussey]

04:55 PM on 02/20/2012

Amazing. Just amazing. I remember years ago, the murder rate was higher than 600, and I read whre their was an assasin's school found in the city. It's down to 300, but then, the population just shrunk too, so I guess the 'rate' has maintained itself. I moved away from Detroit for good to San Diego in 1975. In the following 25 years, I watched while Detroit lost 500,000 people, and San Diego gained that many. Now San Diego is pushing 1.5 mil, and Detroit is down below 800,000? Yet, the murder rate in San Diego was 38 in 2011, which was a rise from 29 in 2010. That's right, a whole year's worth of murders here is less than Detroit already has, right now, before the end of February. I'm sometimes drawn to looking at my old neighborhood (now called Old Redford), on Zillow where house prices are back to 1970 levels, and lower. That neighborhood, the streets, the houses there, look fine. Sure, depression has hit the local businesses, but hey, if Meier is going to open a store where Redford High used to be, that can't be bad. But, being from there, I feel a right to ask. What's wrong with you people? It's been going on long enough. Generations even.

[Edwin Keever Jr]

03:28 PM on 02/20/2012

Guns don't kill people! People kill people! If only we could find a way to keep these Idiots from guns! Any suggestions?

[rwsmetros]

05:35 PM on 02/20/2012

Yes! Arm everyone. I too thought that outlawing guns would clean up crime, I was 10 at the time. Later when I was drafted and sent to Viet Nam, most all soldiers funneled through Oakland army base. At Oakland there were a lot of fights, and problems resulting mostly from racial issues. When we arrived in Viet Nam, we were all issued weapons. Problems were greatly reduced, and you treated each other as human beings with respect and brotherhood. Most criminals and gang bangers, have respect for an armed person. This is why our constitution and bill of rights protects our right to keep and bare arms, to protect and defend ourselves. Our police do that too but they need all the help they can get.

[Edwin Keever Jr]

07:32 PM on 02/20/2012

Arm everyone does not keep the guns out of the hands of Idots and it may not stop crime but if that idiot did not have a gun then a little kid would not have been killed.

[vtmilitia]

05:36 PM on 02/20/2012

Life without parole,with hard labor. Work them to death by age 35,simple. Then when the illegitimate children ask at age 10 the mother can tell them what happened to Poppa.

[Kurt Reply]

03:05 PM on 02/20/2012

Detroit..The land of labor unions, and democrat progressive social policies. How's that hopey changy thing workin' out for ya?

[NorquistNemesis]

01:53 AM on 02/21/2012

^Pathetic^

[Hypocrites are Watching]

09:58 AM on 02/23/2012

flag as idiotic

[Kurt Reply]

03:04 PM on 02/20/2012

Stop having babies that you let grow up into gang bangers. Start passing out the aspirin tablets for cryin out loud. These shootings are not KKK members in white sheets driving into Detroit neighborhoods for the fun of it.

[makemesmile]

12:35 AM on 02/21/2012

It's black on black crime and latino on latino crime.

[rwsmetros]

05:48 PM on 02/20/2012

I looked at the images above and saw 2 white anchor persons and one black reporter. No mention was made of race, religion or culture of the victims or shooters. I am not familiar with the population of Detroit, but if it is 100% white, I get your comment. Say wait a minute, is this the 6 year old that uses mels computer?

[bms2buy4]

07:47 PM on 02/20/2012

lol - you gotta be kiddin' - or just ignorant.

[BHD]

02:17 PM on 02/20/2012

What say we just condemn the city and disperse the remaining residents across all 50 states? We check them all for outstanding warrants before we load them onto the buses, obviously.

[BHD]

12:42 PM on 02/21/2012

Fair deal, so yes I support that entirely! But we have to build a wall around Texas once they are in.

[Mailman]

01:16 PM on 02/20/2012

You're safer in Syria than in Detroit.