The family of a 19-year-old Detroit teen is hoping to keep him out of jail after he says he accidentally shot two police officers.
The teen says he thought those officers were burglars so he fired a warning shot - striking them both.
Now that teen is facing some serious jail time.
The week before the family says they called police about a break in where a man was trying to kick in the back door.
The day of the shooting, the teen’s father says his wife called police to the home next door and says his son thought those officers were another thief trying to break in.
“That’s all he keeps telling me is that dad I’m so sorry I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody… I just wanted to scare him away,” say Vincent Redd.
Redd says his 19-year-old son, Juwan Plumber, never meant to harm anyone especially a police officer.
Redd says his son fired a shot at what he thought was someone trying to break into his home on the 20000 block of Lesure on Detroit’s west side. But instead injured two police officers responding to a possible break-in across the street.
Redd says just last week his son caught a man trying to kick in their back door and that same day says his wife called police about a break-in at their home.
“A couple of hours or so later is when the police showed up,” Redd says. “For that house, and my son didn’t realize, he was unaware that his mother had called the police in the first place, so when he heard the noises - he thought it was the same situation”
The two people approaching the home were Detroit police officers. One was hit with shrapnel in the arm and the other was shot in the face with a shotgun.
Plummer was arraigned Wednesday and is charged with several felony charges. His father insists his son is no threat to the community and says police were not target - rather they were mistaken for burglars.
The problem for this family is they’ve spent all they had in order to bond their son out of jail.
With very little to spend, Redd says affording an attorney is nearly impossible and they are looking for any help they can get.
The chief says those officers are doing much better.
