Detroit, MI
Victims of largest mass shooting in Michigan history said they couldn’t see shooter
Detroit — None of the eight victims who testified Tuesday about being injured in the largest mass shooting in Michigan history said they saw who shot them, instead describing a chaotic scene with too many gunshots to count.
Diamond Cheatham said “it was so many I can’t remember,” noting it was at least more than 20 shots. She did not know where the shots came from. Chelsea Jackson said she heard “probably about over 100 shots.”
The victims testified Tuesday during the preliminary examination for Demetrus Shaw, the only person charged so far in what prosecutors characterized as an ongoing investigation into a mass shooting at a July 7 block party in Detroit that left two people dead and 19 injured. Detroit police have said they believe the shooting stemmed from a gang dispute.
Shaw, 19, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, 19 counts of assault with intent to murder and 21 counts of felony firearm. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
The homicide victims were Shanae Fletcher, 20, of Harrison Township and Phillip Arnold, 21, of Detroit. Among the non-fatal shooting victims were a 16-year-old girl, two 17-year-old girls, a 17-year-old boy, a 19-year-old woman, two 20-year-old women and two 22-year-old men, all of Detroit; a 17-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, both of Clinton Township; two 18-year-old women from Eastpointe; a 20-year-old Oak Park woman; a 21-year-old woman, a 21-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman from Highland Park; a 21-year-old woman from Southfield; and a 21-year-old woman from Chesterfield Township.
Shaw’s attorney, Mohammed Naser, asked each of the victims if they were treated for their injuries before or after they spoke to police. He declined to comment after the preliminary examination ended Tuesday, noting it was still ongoing. It will continue Wednesday with three remaining witnesses.
Police arrived just after 2:30 a.m. July 7 at Rossini Drive near Gratiot Avenue for a report of a shooting. Some of the victims had already left the scene before police arrived, being driven to the hospital by friends or other party-goers. Others, like Fletcher, were left behind.
Detroit Police Officer Daniel Havern said Fletcher was not breathing and had no pulse when he arrived. She was bleeding from the head.
Jawan Mitchell said he was shot in the leg next to his cousin, Arnold. He had only been at the party for a few minutes before the shooting began.
“I was laying on my stomach, and by the time I turned to my back, he was talking to me and his last words were ‘cuz I love you.’ And that’s it,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell, like the other victims who testified Tuesday, said he did not see who shot him. But he could tell the shots came from the direction of the driveway across from him.
Mitchell was the only one of the victims who testified Tuesday who said he had a gun, but he did not fire it because he couldn’t see the shooter. He said he saw someone run and hop a fence after the shooting stopped.
Starkesha Charleston was grazed in the head, and her older sister Starlitha Charleston was shot in the arm and back. Starkesha said her friend, who did not testify Tuesday, also was shot. The three of them had been there for only a few minutes before the shots started.
“I was running,” Starkesha Charleston said of the moments after the first shot came. “Most of us were shot so we couldn’t do anything but run.”
Chelsea Jackson, who had been shot in the thigh, said she fell to the ground and had to crawl behind a bush to hide as the shots continued. Someone carried her into a nearby house and she stayed there until an ambulance took her to the hospital.
Darah Orr and Mariah Ruffin said they didn’t see anyone shooting, but Orr said “clearly there was more than one shooter.” Neither prosecutors nor Naser asked the women why they believed there was more than one shooter.
Ruffin was shot in the leg, and Orr was shot in the right forearm.
“I was running to get in front of another car,” Orr said. “The area I was in was too open so I was trying to take cover.”
Ruffin said she crawled behind a bush after she heard the shots start. She hadn’t realized at first that she had been hit, until she went to scratch her leg and her hand came back bloody.
“I ran,” Ruffin said of when she heard the shots. “Everyone was running every which way.”
Shaw is also charged with the May 31 nonfatal shooting of a 37-year-old Detroit man on Collington Drive in Detroit.
The shooting on Rossini Avenue was one of several violent incidents at Detroit block parties during the Fourth of July weekend. Following the incident, Detroit police officials required officers to participate in the department’s Mobile Field Force, the unit that handles block parties and large gatherings.
Prior to the shooting, officers volunteered for the detail, although the department was shorthanded during the holiday weekend because officials said there weren’t enough officers staffing the unit.
kberg@detroitnews.com
Detroit, MI
Man jumps into action to save girlfriend in crash involving teen driver fleeing MSP
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Detroit, MI
Why a Detroit family’s $300 brick repair job turned into a fraud investigation
DETROIT – What started as a seemingly routine home repair quickly unraveled into something far more troubling for one Detroit family.
A man appeared to be posing as a contractor — arriving in construction gear and accompanied by two teens — showed up April 7 at a west side Detroit home, offering to do brick work for about $300. But according to the homeowner’s daughter, the situation started to seem fishy — and expensive — fast.
Tameka Kelly said the trio told her 76-year-old mother they were with “State Line Construction” and began working almost immediately.
“I just felt used and taken advantage of,” Kelly said, looking back at the situation.
“They kept working — kept putting cement down, I said, ‘you might want to tell them to stop.’ He said, ‘well right now it’s $1129.’ I said, ‘my mother‘s not paying you $1000,’” Kelly said.
At one point, the man even offered to repair the bottom of the home’s wheelchair ramp — something Kelly said her sister, who lives with her mother, relies on daily. But she refused because something just didn’t sit right.
“I gave him the $300,” Kelly said, hoping they would just leave. “I thought, well, he knows where my mom lives. I don’t want him coming back trying to do something to my mom‘s house or something to our vehicles.”
Kelly later tried to confront the man, who identified himself as Brian Lopez, and called the number on the invoice.
“When I called he was like, ‘no no no brickwork no brickwork’ I said, ‘yes you did. You were just here. I said I don’t forget a voice,’” she said.
But the biggest red flag came when she looked closer at the address listed on the invoice.
The address — 70 West Maple in Troy — turned out to be a McDonald’s.
“I really got upset when I found out that address was to a McDonald’s,” Kelly said.
Initially, Kelly said when she tried to file a report with Detroit police, she said they told her the situation was a civil matter and she could not file one. She then filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
Now, Detroit police tell Local 4 they will be taking Kelly’s fraud report, and once that is completed, an investigation will follow.
State Line initially told Local 4 they were not familiar with a Brian Lopez, then an attorney for State Line construction told Local 4 that, after checking the company’s records, there is no Brian Lopez that works for the company. As a matter of fact, the attorney said, State Line Construction does not do cement or residential construction. He said they focus on electrical work.
Attempts by Local 4 to reach the man going by the name Brian Lopez with the number given were unsuccessful.
Kelly said she felt compelled to speak up to prevent others from falling victim.
“I’m really upset about it, and I don’t want it to happen to anybody else,” she said.
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Detroit, MI
Detroit Pistons already facing must-win Game 2 vs Orlando Magic
Pistons vs Magic Game 1 reaction, lessons learned and what must change
Omari Sankofa II, Shawn Windsor and special guest Bryce Simon react to Detroit Pistons’ Game 1 NBA playoff loss to Orlando Magic, April 19, 2026, at Little Caesars Arena.
How in the world did things get so bad so fast for the Detroit Pistons?
In just one outing in the 2026 NBA playoffs, they went from top-seeded darlings of the Eastern Conference to punching bags punked by an 8-seed short on rest but long on resilience and toughness.
“I would say they ‘outphysical-ed’ us today,” Pistons wing Ausar Thompson said after the Orlando Magic stole Game 1 of the first-round NBA playoff series, 112-101, at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday, April 19. “One, because they got more rebounds than us. They forced more turnovers.”
Yes, this was always going to be a physical series. Though you would think the Pistons, owners of the NBA’s second-best defense and playing at home, would have a sizable advantage.
It also should have helped them that they were coming off six days’ rest, as opposed to the Magic coming off winning a play-in game just 47 hours earlier.
It didn’t help that Pistons star Cade Cunnigham was playing in just his fourth game since suffering a collapsed lung and missing 11 games. He scored a game-high 39 points, but he didn’t operate as smoothly as usual, with just four assists (far off his 9.9-assist season average) while committing three turnovers.
Another indictment of the Pistons’ worrisome play: Tobias Harris (19 points) was Cunningham’s only teammate who scored in double digits. Meanwhile, all five Magic staters did so, led by Paolo Banchero’s 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting.
And just like that, the Magic came out firing, scoring 35 points in the first quarter and never trailing.
“Yeah, just that we came out a little too tight, lax, whatever the word is, maybe both for some of us, but just didn’t come out with the right energy,” Cunningham said. “Gave them life further on. And then, you know, we had to deal with that for the rest of the game. We were better in stints, but can’t dig a hole like that.”
He’s right. The Pistons can’t dig a hole like that in Game 2 on Wednesday night. Because if they do, and they lose, the Magic would not only have homecourt advantage – they got that with Sunday’s victory – but could close out the series without another win in Detroit, with three of the next four games coming in Orlando.
That’s precisely what makes Game 2 a must-win game for the Pistons. It’s bad enough they lost the opener at LCA, where they were 31-9. But now they’ve let the Magic set a hard-edged tone in the kind of the game that could lead them to steal the series.
“I know that they feel great about this game,” Cunningham said. “This was a big win for them. They came in, they handled their business and stole one on the road. That’s what you want to do in the playoff series.
“So I’m sure that they feel great about that. Obviously, we’re sick about losing this one. It’s a long series, though. There’s no confidence dropped from us. We know that team. They know us. So it’ll be a long, fun series.”
Cunningham might be right, because the Pistons are arguably the better team. They have enough talent and more depth.
What the Pistons don’t have is the advantage of desperation. They had an excellent season from start to finish, closed with a 60-22 record, and wrapped up the East’s top seed on April 4.
The Magic, meanwhile, have been playing with fire (and not always the good kind) down the stretch, while their fifth-year coach, Jamahl Mosley, entered the postseason on the hottest of hot seats after his squad went 0-7 in road playoff games over the past two seasons.
To make things even worse, the Magic lost the regular-season finale to the Boston Celtics – well, their reserves, at least – to blow their chance at the 7-seed and homecourt in the play-in tournament. Then Orlando lost to the Philadelphia 76ers (on the road, of course) in the first play-in game before beating the Charlotte Hornets (in Orlando) to advance to a best-of-seven series – featuring four road games – vs. the Pistons.
Now, it looks like the Magic have found their form, as they routed the Hornets, 121-90, and stunned the Pistons. And just like that, Mosley went from hot seat to just plain hot.
Banchero wouldn’t go so far as to say the victory set up his team to steal the series, but he didn’t deny it was exactly the kind of start Orlando needed.
“It’s just a good win for us as a team getting it on the road against a great team and 1-seed,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we got to come back Wednesday, you know, reciprocate it, you know?
“They’re not going to lay down. They’re going to turn it up. So we’ve got to be ready for that. And it’s just one-game-at-a-time mentality, you know? That’s what it’s got to be. It’s the first of four.”
Yes, it’s just the first of four wins the Magic needs to advance. If the Pistons don’t find an answer quickly, the math – and hardly anyone else – won’t be on their side when they head to Central Florida this weekend.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on X @cmonarrez.
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