DETROIT (WXYZ) — This afternoon, Detroit police knocked on doors in an east side neighborhood to try and get answers in the shooting death of an 11-year-old.
Latrelle Mines, 11, was shot and killed on Sunday around 7:30 p.m.
Police said it was a drive-by. Mines lost his life at the corner of Beaconsfield and Courville Street. His mother, Latresa, told 7 Action News he had spent the night with cousins.
On Sunday, the trio had been roller-skating at that corner when the incident occurred.
“Oh, I just wanna hold my baby so bad. So so bad. So bad," Latresa Mines told 7 Action News.
She shared fond memories of Latrelle.
“He just so lovable. Like, no matter what he do you going to love him. His presence is everything. When he walk in the house, the whole house is happy," Mines described.
“He was just a happy, dancing, dancing, dancing kid. That’s all he do is dance," she said.
Mines said her son also liked to play basketball and roller-skate.
Investigators said they are unsure of a motive in the shooting or of the intended target.
Mines said, “Somebody knows something. They wasn’t out there for my baby. They was out there for somebody else, and that somebody need to speak up because it’s not fair.”
Chief James White said, “And really what we're looking for is anything unusual.”
Today, Chief White and community members knocked on doors and posted door hangers to solicit any tips and home video surveillance that will hopefully bring some form of closure to a grieving mother and a 3-year-old sister who can’t yet process her brother is gone.
Mines said, “He got all these people showing him love and support, and I want to thank everybody. Everybody, everybody. When I saw everybody, I wanna thank everybody because my baby was truly loved, and it don’t make no sense that he had to go out like that.”
His mother established a Gofundme to help with burial expenses that can be found by clicking here.
If you have any information on this case, you’re urged to call Crime Stoppers at 1800 SPEAKUP.
