DETROIT (WXYZ) — A 16-year-old awaits his fate for allegedly shooting another teen in the head and a woman in the arm. Detroit police say the teenage victim is in very critical condition.
Shanitra Rayford said she's lived in the 800 block of Delaware since 2017. After being shot just feet from her home, she said she's ready to move.
"Stop the violence. Put the guns down," she said.
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Still bandaged and healing from her gunshot wounds, Rayford explained to 7 News Detroit what led up to an altercation she said was preventable.
"Could've just talked. Everybody could have talked instead of just shooting. But it happened too fast," the mother of two said.
Rayford said a couple of kids picked on her 8-year-old son near her apartment Thursday evening. She said a 6-year-old choked her child after being egged on by a teenager.
"When he went and got his brother, he came out with a sledgehammer and start swinging at everybody," Rayford recalled.
She said she then went to talk to the 6-year-old's mother.
"She came with a whole bunch of people. Me and her was talking for a minute. After we got done talking, I got my CPL, so I had my gun in my pocket," she said.
"One guy had his arm in his coat because he had his gun in there. So, the boy next to me he grabbed my gun out cause he (saw) him with a gun and they start shooting and that's when I start getting hit trying to run."
"When I was shot, I was crawling cause I hit the ground and then I ended up right here at the end and a old lady came and took me to the hospital," Rayford explained. "I thought I was about to die."
Detroit police said one of the teens on scene was shot in the head and is in very critical condition.
"I wanna move. I don't wanna come outside," Rayford said.