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