According to Dearborn Heights police, the man who shot and killed Renisha McBride over the weekend is claiming that his .12-gauge shotgun discharged accidentally.
McBride died on his front porch from a gunshot wound to the face early Saturday morning after knocking on his door for help following a car accident.
Police released only vague details and have continued to withhold basic information about the incident, like the name of the shooter and the address where McBride was shot.
Dearborn Heights chief detective Lt. James Serwatowski clarified to reporters that McBride was shot “in the front of the face, near the mouth,” not in the back of her head as her family suggested. “I don’t know where the family is getting this,” Serwatowski said.
Detroit Pastor W.J. Rideout responded that where she was shot doesn’t change that it was unjustified. “Wherever she was shot…she was shot defenselessly. She didn’t have a weapon and my stance is that she should never have been shot, whether it was in front, back side, whatever,” Rideout told ABC News.
Detroit Free Press has more:
“I’ll confirm that she was in an accident in Detroit and that she left the accident scene, and then some hours transpired” before the shooting, Serwatowski said.
Serwatowski said the shooting occurred about 3:40 a.m. and the accident happened at about 1:30 a.m. He declined to say what police believe McBride was doing before and after the accident.
The homeowner’s .12-gauge was seized by police and the Michigan State Police crime lab is analyzing it, Serwatowski said.
Police requested an arrest warrant for the shooter earlier in the week, but the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office refused to issue one, telling ABC News, “We were presented with a warrant request on Tuesday and we have asked the police to do some further investigation on the case and until we receive that work, we won’t be able to continue and make a decision.”
As the news of McBride’s death has spread, so has public outrage over the seemingly endless shootings of unarmed black people. The Detroit Free Press reports that a rally will be taking place this evening to protest the handling of the case by authorities so far.
Activists are planning to rally at 6 p.m. today outside the Dearborn Heights Police station over McBride’s death.
“Black life is not valued in America, not worthy, not respected,” said Detroit activist Yusef Shaker, who is helping lead the rally. “Here was a woman who was seeking help from potential danger and her life was taken…It’s a Trayvon Martin case all over again.”
Writer Dream Hampton and Illana Weaver, a Detroit rapper known as Invincible, are also helping organize the protest, Shaker said.
The rally is about “recognizing the value of a woman and the value of a black person,” Shaker said.
An assistant to Dearborn Heights Police Chief Lee Gavin declined comment on the rally.
There is also a petition making the rounds demanding McBride’s killer be prosecuted.
It is not Trayvon Martin all over again. He was a druggy low life going out trying to make more drugs and got caught up in his ways. Yes I agree Zimmerman should be in jail, but that case has NOTHING to do with this one. This beautiful young lady was just asking for help. In the society we live in now a days, it may as well taken her 2 hours to find that help. I live in an almost all black neighborhood. If i didn’t have a cell phone and my car broke down, I have a better chance walking home than getting help from ANYBODY in this city. People DO NOT help people anymore. It is what we all have become. I still try to see the good in everybody, but society is full of racism. It has gotten worse over the past couple of years, too. But anyway, stop comparing a drug addict to a respectable young lady. You guys are making her life seem useless! STOP IT!
You’re a racist idiot. That’s all.
As a fellow racist idiot you should know.
You know not enough about this child to make comments about his characters which tells me a lot about yours – I would defend you to the end if someone tried to tell me negative things about you that did not know you – a drug addict – let someone place this on your head and maybe you will understand how unjust such words can be – if you dont know silence is golden
Seems like you get your facts from tabloids.
[…] murderer, who first claimed he thought she was an intruder, later changing his story to “the gun discharged accidentally“, has not been arrested, and his identity is being protected. Due to a stand-your-ground law […]
[…] (Latest Developments here.) […]
Reblogged this on Malawi Ace.
What a terrible and pointless loss of life. This story is deflating and I feel for her family and friends, but also those who are touched by this injustice. Thank you for bringing this news to light.
[…] Although he later claimed – implausibly – that the shooting was an “accident,” the gunman has not explained why he waited several hours before calling the emergency services to report what he had done. […]
[…] Although he later claimed – implausibly – that the shooting was an “accident,” the gunman has not explained why he waited several hours before calling the emergency services to report what he had done. […]
[…] Although he later claimed – implausibly – that the shooting was an “accident,” the gunman has not explained why he waited several hours before calling the emergency services to report what he had done. […]
[…] insists his shotgun discharged accidentally and that, having mistook McBride for an intruder, he was acting in […]
[…] insists his shotgun discharged accidentally and that, having mistook McBride for an intruder, he was acting in […]