The chain of events that led to the police shooting of a sleeping 7-year-old may have begun with an argument over dirty looks in an east-side liquor store parking lot.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy authorized a murder warrant Wednesday against the man police were seeking when they killed Aiyana Stanley Jones while raiding her home early Sunday.
Chauncey Louis Owens, 34, of Detroit will be arraigned today on charges of first-degree murder, being a four-time felony offender and gun charges in connection with Friday’s shooting death of 17-year-old Southeastern High School senior Jerean Blake.
“The death of Jerean Blake is as senseless as it can get,” Worthy said. “The allegations are that the defendant killed the 17-year-old high school student because he looked at the defendant the wrong way.”
Blake was shot in front of numerous witnesses in a parking lot on Mack Avenue near St. Jean.
Owens was arrested early Sunday in an upstairs flat at a duplex about two blocks from the store, where members of the Detroit Police Special Response Team simultaneously entered a downstairs unit where Aiyana, three of her young siblings and six adults were sleeping.
The girl’s death during the botched raid has left the city stunned, with one lawmaker calling for a federal probe into the case, and heightened tensions in the community.
“I don’t want to live in the city anymore. I can’t even trust the police. We don’t feel safe sleeping in our house,” said Detroiter Erika Anderson, who stopped by the home on Lillibridge with her two young daughters to lay stuffed toys at the makeshift shrine that has formed in tribute to Aiyana.
“We were moved by what happened to this little girl.”
Geoffrey Fieger on Tuesday filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court and Wayne County Circuit Court on behalf of Aiyana’s family alleging negligence and a cover-up by police he says at first blamed the girl’s grandmother for grabbing at the officer’s gun.
Local leaders responded on Wednesday to the latest incident in a recent surge of gun violence, including the slaying of Police Officer Brian Huff and wounding of four more officers, the killing of 15-year-old honor roll student Avondre Donel as he stood on a friend’s porch, and the death a woman struck inside her own house by a bullet fired by a man chasing a car thief.
Geraldine Jackson, 69, was buried Wednesday.
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Rep. John Conyers asked for an investigation into Aiyana’s death by the federal Justice Department.
“(With) Detroit suffering through a disturbing wave of violence, it is imperative we take all possible steps to calm the situation, reassure the community that their safety is a national priority, and lessen the chance of future bloodshed,” said the Detroit Democrat, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee.
Mayor Dave Bing expressed outrage and sadness Wednesday over the girl’s death. But Bing also suggested Fieger filed the lawsuits for money.
“I doubt very seriously if he knows much about facts,” Bing said. “As an attorney that’s in this to make money, I think he’s setting that up right now. It’s unfortunate that you would use a tragedy like this to incite the community.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton will eulogize Aiyana Jones and denounce both police misconduct and black-on-black violence, saying you “can’t confront one without the other,” a spokeswoman for him said Wednesday.
Sharpton, the chief executive officer of the National Action Network and a high-profile pastor from New York, will offer his words at services that will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at Second Ebenezer Church, 14601 Dequindre.
Source:The Detroit News/ Doug Guthrie
