Post by Admin on May 29, 2015 19:42:24 GMT
Flint police chief slams rash of Memorial Day weekend shootings
www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/05/flint_police_arrest_suspect_af.html
FLINT, MI – Flint Police Chief James Tolbert said the spike in violence that left a 17-year-old dead and several more injured this Memorial Day weekend has been "ridiculous."
Police Chief James Tolbert speaks about crime spree in Flint and Flint Township
"This whole weekend has been violent," Tolbert said. "The police have to find out why people are engaging in this type of violence."
Tolbert said Monday, May 25, that police have one suspect in custody in connection with a shooting that injured seven people in the parking lot of Flint Southwestern Classical Academy.
Tolbert said police also are pursuing another suspect in the Sunday morning incident, which occurred just after 2 a.m. in the high school parking lot. Two of the victims were critically injured.
Police have said the shooting wasn't connected to the high school.
Flint Police Lieutenant Devon Bernritter said a group gathered shortly after 2 a.m. in the parking lot of the school off 12th Street and "there was some degree of an altercation which led to shots being fired" and several people shot.
Tolbert said Monday that police learned the gathering started somewhere outside of the city of Flint, but for an unknown reason ended up in the parking lot of Southwestern where the shooting occurred.
Once you pull the trigger, you can't pull the bullet back.
Another early Sunday morning shooting that occurred near the intersection of Gillespie and Industrial avenues left a man in critical condition. The shooting took place shortly after the one in the school parking lot, police said, but appears to be unrelated.
In an earlier triple shooting, James Willie Doshie Jr., a 17-year-old, died in the hospital after the incident at Atherton East Apartments on Friday, May 22. One other man and a woman were hospitalized, police said.
Flint police were called to the 2900 block of Kleinpell Street around 9 p.m. for a shooting on Friday, May 22. One woman and two men were injured, leaving one person in good condition and the other two in critical condition.
Tolbert did not have further updates regarding the shootings, but said the department is continuing to investigate.
He said the police will do everything they can to curb the violence, but at the end of the day, individuals are responsible for their own actions.
"Once you pull the trigger, you can't pull the bullet back, and you don't know where it's going," he said. "People who have never been trained in using firearms are just spraying crowds. It's ridiculous."
Robert Howard III currently resides on Flint's south side and has lived in the city for 16 years. He said the violence is not new to the city, and it doesn't really surprise him.
"It's because of the games and media these kids have," he said, speculating on why the violence occurs. "Schools can't discipline anymore, and there's a generation of kids growing up without role models. That's devastating, a cry for help."