DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit police and other city leaders provided an update on the illegal block party that left two people dead and 19 others injured early Sunday morning on the city's east side.
Mayor Mike Duggan, Police Chief James White, Prosecutor Kym Worthy and other leaders spoke at a press conference Monday on the violence the city has seen after the Fourth of July weekend.
Related: Detroit police roll out new strategy to stop illegal block parties after violent weekend
In all, the officials said there were shootings at six illegal block parties in the three days after the Fourth of July that left three people dead and 24 others injured.
The largest block party shooting happened in the area of Reno St. and Rossini Dr. around 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
See video from the scene on Sunday below
Police said that there were 15 young women shot and six young men who were shot. A 20-year-old woman and a 21-year-old man died in the shooting. The other victims and their conditions are below.
- 18-year-old female - temp-serious
- 17-year-old female - temp-serious
- 21-year-old female
- 20-year-old female - temp-serious
- 22-year-old male - stable
- 20-year-old female - stable
- 17-year-old male - temp-serious
- 21-year-old male - temp-serious
- 20-year-old female - temp-serious
- 27-year-old female - temp-serious
- 17-year-old female - critical
- 18-year-old female - temp-serious
- 19-year-old female - temp-serious
- 17-year-old male - temp-serious
- 16-year-old female - temp-serious
- 21-year-old female - temp-serious
- 25-year-old female - temp-serious
- 24-year-old female - stable
- 21-year-old male - temp-serious
Hear from Mayor Mike Duggan below
There were more than 100 shell casings found at the scene, according to White, and they recovered nine handguns. One of those had an illegal Glock switch, which essentially turns the pistol into an automatic weapon.
“We had a level of violence that week that we rarely see any more in Detroit," Duggan said during the press conference.
Hear from Detroit Police Chief James White below
"I was saddened and utterly disgusted to learn of today's early morning mass shooting on Detroit's east side, where 21 young people, average age of 19, were shot with two of them succumbing to their injuries," said city council president Mary Sheffield in a statement she posted to X. "This unspeakable tragedy is yet another reminder that gun violence is an epidemic in Detroit and across this Nation. We must chart a new course of action and I'm calling for an all-hands-on-deck approach to ending the senseless killings and destruction of families in our community...my heart and prayers go out to the victims and their loved ones."
Duggan said about 40% of the victims in the shootings don't live in the City of Detroit, and the block parties were bringing in people from up to 50 miles away from Detroit, including from Ohio.
"This tragedy does not represent our city," White said at the press conference. "This is people deciding to use our town, take over our neighborhoods, and engage in lawlessness and take over our streets."
The department is also rolling out a new strategy aimed at stopping the illegal block parties.
According to White, the department will deploy a new neighborhood response team consisting of 80 officers who will be called in to help stop or shut down illegal block parties.
There will be at least one police car in each precinct starting Thursdays through the weekend that will be driving around looking for illegal activities and trying to detect illegal block parties early.
Also, White said that the department will now treat illegal block parties as priority one calls.
The city said that these illegal block parties are different from permitted neighborhood parties where residents work with the city and Detroit neighborhood police officers to shut down the streets. They are also different from events that are confined to the house and the backyard, which do not need permits.
The parties become illegal, according to DPD, if cars are illegally parked, attendees begin loitering in public areas or interfere with traffic, music and noise are excessive, kids violate curfew and more.
White said they are also relying on the public's help to shut down the block parties, and to call 911 if they notice one starts to get out of control or spilling out into the streets.
They also plan to work with community organizations throughout the city to help curb the block parties and violence.
Finally, the city is working with Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to prosecute property owners and hosts of illegal block parties.
