Sleeping Girl Shot By Police

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A 7-year-old Detroit girl sleeping on a couch was shot and killed early Sunday after a Detroit police officer's weapon went off while he was searching for a homicide suspect, police said.

Assistant Police Chief Ralph Godbee said that Aiyana Jones was hit in the neck by a bullet and died at a hospital.

...

Officers threw a flash-bang device — which causes a bright flash and noise — into a home on the city's east side at about 12:45 a.m. and immediately entered, guns drawn, Godbee said.

"I heard boom! Detroit police! Pop! It happened so fast," said Krystal Sanders, 30, an aunt of the girl who said she was in the home at the time of the incident.

Aiyana's grandmother Mertilla Jones was in the front room of the house and tussled with the first officer when his gun discharged, hitting Aiyana, police said.

"I (saw) the light go out of her eyes," said Jones, 47, who had been questioned by police and released. "They killed my grandbaby."

And if this wasn't tragic enough, the writer decided to include a touch of And That's Terrible.

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Family members said Aiyana was outgoing, friendly and loved to sing and dance.

"Everybody loved her," her father, Charles Jones, said. "And she loved everybody."

As if this would be less tragic if she was a little sociopath who liked to throw things at puppies.

ETA: A link would probably be nice.

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The suspect sought in the teenager's death was arrested at the house.

Another news article [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] has more:

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Officers arrested the suspect during the search, Godbee said. Jones said
the suspect wasn't in his apartment but one upstairs that officers
raided at the same time.

and

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Godbee would not comment on newspaper reports that neighbors told police
there were children in the house and showed them toys in the front
yard.

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A 7-year-old Detroit girl sleeping on a couch was shot and killed early Sunday after a Detroit police officer's weapon went off while he was searching for a homicide suspect, police said.

"Hey guys I accidentally a seven year old. What should I do, over?"

Police weapons going off demonstrate a remarkable accuracy for something that's not being pointed and aimed... like the police officer weapon that 'went off' from across a highway and left a 22-years-old dead on the spot.

In any case, [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The Unoriginal wrote:

Quote :

A 7-year-old Detroit girl sleeping on a couch was shot and killed early Sunday after a Detroit police officer's weapon went off while he was searching for a homicide suspect, police said.

"Hey guys I accidentally a seven year old. What should I do, over?"

Police weapons going off demonstrate a remarkable accuracy for something that's not being pointed and aimed... like the police officer weapon that 'went off' from across a highway and left a 22-years-old dead on the spot.

In any case, [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

That's not a fair assumption. The weapons which are accidentally discharged and don't hit anyone usually don't get reported in the news.

Perhaps not a police-hating thing. But a strong argument as to why you can't hand out guns like sweeties to just about anyone.

How does a gun "just go off", anyway? If they tend to do that, shouldn't someone do something about that?

A twist in the story: According to MSNBC, a film crew from The First 48 was on the scene. There may be footage of the incident.

Why wasn't his safety on?

The safety on in the middle of a raid? Really?

Quote :

Aiyana's grandmother Mertilla Jones was in the front room of the house
and tussled with the first officer when his gun discharged, hitting
Aiyana, police said.

Zoey, Unny, Harley, read this sentence. He was fighting with someone, probably over the gun, which explains how it could have went off in funny directions.

Also, how are you NOT going to give a gun to a guy raiding a place, looking for a homicide suspect, in Detroit? If you don't give him a gun you may as well change his rank to human shield.

Detroit, and I knew enough. =/

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Quote :

Aiyana's grandmother Mertilla Jones was in the front room of the house
and tussled with the first officer when his gun discharged, hitting
Aiyana, police said.

Zoey, Unny, Harley, read this sentence. He was fighting with someone, probably over the gun, which explains how it could have went off in funny directions.

Also, how are you NOT going to give a gun to a guy raiding a place, looking for a homicide suspect, in Detroit? If you don't give him a gun you may as well change his rank to human shield.

Dammit, Mikey. Stop being reasonable.

Lady Anne wrote:

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Quote :

Aiyana's grandmother Mertilla Jones was in the front room of the house
and tussled with the first officer when his gun discharged, hitting
Aiyana, police said.

Zoey, Unny, Harley, read this sentence. He was fighting with someone, probably over the gun, which explains how it could have went off in funny directions.

Also, how are you NOT going to give a gun to a guy raiding a place, looking for a homicide suspect, in Detroit? If you don't give him a gun you may as well change his rank to human shield.

Dammit, Mikey. Stop being reasonable.

Well, this girl probably deserved to be shot anyway. I mean she's harboring someone she possibly knew was a fugitive maybe in the apartment above her. Being seven years old is not an excuse for letting wanted men sleep within five hundred yards of you.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Lady Anne wrote:

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Quote :

Aiyana's grandmother Mertilla Jones was in the front room of the house
and tussled with the first officer when his gun discharged, hitting
Aiyana, police said.

Zoey, Unny, Harley, read this sentence. He was fighting with someone, probably over the gun, which explains how it could have went off in funny directions.

Also, how are you NOT going to give a gun to a guy raiding a place, looking for a homicide suspect, in Detroit? If you don't give him a gun you may as well change his rank to human shield.

Dammit, Mikey. Stop being reasonable.

Well, this girl probably deserved to be shot anyway. I mean she's harboring someone she possibly knew was a fugitive maybe in the apartment above her. Being seven years old is not an excuse for letting wanted men sleep within five hundred yards of you.

Now that's the Mikey we all know and love to wank at.

ZoZo wrote:

Perhaps not a police-hating thing. But a strong argument as to why you can't hand out guns like sweeties to just about anyone.

Uhhhh... we (meaning Americans) don't do that. So that's a gross oversimplification of a very complex issue. :picard:

Quote :

How does a gun "just go off", anyway? If they tend to do that, shouldn't someone do something about that?

A gun uses a trigger to fire. Press the trigger, gun is likely to go off.

Make the damn thing too hard to use or too difficult to fire, and what do you have? A person who got killed by the other guy when they were trying to fire their damn weapon.

MikeyGoWOOGA wrote:

Quote :

Aiyana's grandmother Mertilla Jones was in the front room of the house and tussled with the first officer when his gun discharged, hitting Aiyana, police said.

Zoey, Unny, Harley, read this sentence. He was fighting with someone, probably over the gun, which explains how it could have went off in funny directions.

Yeah, much as I hate to blame the victim (the girl's family being victims since they lost their loved one) that was a REALLY stupid move on the grandma's part, and honestly, she might bear some responsibility in what happened. Not to say that the police probably don't have their fair share of blame, but wrestling with a police officer who's on the hunt for a likely extremely dangerous murderer when said officer's got a loaded weapon in his hands is a recipe for disaster... which is exactly what happened.

Lady Anne wrote:

Dammit, Mikey. Stop being reasonable.

Well, he stopped. We can all cease being surprised that a broken clock is right twice a day. :lol:

Malganis wrote:

Yeah, much as I hate to blame the victim (the girl's family being victims since they lost their loved one) that was a REALLY stupid move on the grandma's part, and honestly, she might bear some responsibility in what happened. Not to say that the police probably don't have their fair share of blame, but wrestling with a police officer who's on the hunt for a likely extremely dangerous murderer when said officer's got a loaded weapon in his hands is a recipe for disaster... which is exactly what happened.

No, that's what the police claim happened.

There seems to be three sides to this: the police, the family, and the truth (which likely lies somewhere in the middle).

I want to come back to the issue of the police using flash-bangs before raiding the house. I was under the impression that SOP was to never use flash-bangs when there is the potential of young children being in the house?

Spotts1701 wrote:

Malganis wrote:

Yeah, much as I hate to blame the victim (the girl's family being victims since they lost their loved one) that was a REALLY stupid move on the grandma's part, and honestly, she might bear some responsibility in what happened. Not to say that the police probably don't have their fair share of blame, but wrestling with a police officer who's on the hunt for a likely extremely dangerous murderer when said officer's got a loaded weapon in his hands is a recipe for disaster... which is exactly what happened.

No, that's what the police claim happened.

There seems to be three sides to this: the police, the family, and the truth (which likely lies somewhere in the middle).

I want to come back to the issue of the police using flash-bangs before raiding the house. I was under the impression that SOP was to never use flash-bangs when there is the potential of young children being in the house?

Why not? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Seriously, should they just go in shooting stuff? The kids will survive a flash-bang. If the police honestly believe the place they're about to barge into could contain an armed and dangerous man, they need to use flash-bangs or teargas or something to incapacitate everyone as best as possible. If they don't, they're more likely to run into a fight in the room, and that's how people get hurt.

Edit: They may also have figured there weren't any kids in their for whatever reason.

Spotts1701 wrote:

There seems to be three sides to this: the police, the family, and the truth (which likely lies somewhere in the middle).

Good point... if only there was videotaped footage of exactly what happened :(

Malganis wrote:

Spotts1701 wrote:

There seems to be three sides to this: the police, the family, and the truth (which likely lies somewhere in the middle).

Good point... if only there was videotaped footage of exactly what happened

IF the family's lawyer is telling the truth, there is.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Seriously, should they just go in shooting stuff? The kids will survive a flash-bang.

Have you ever experienced what a flash-bang sounds and feels like when it goes off?

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Edit: They may also have figured there weren't any kids in their for whatever reason.

I believe it stated in the article Freezer posted that several neighbors pointed out toys in the yard to them and TOLD them there were kids in the house. So one can only assume they believed the neighbors were lying, and the toys had been planted there by whoever they were after to MAKE them think there were kids in the house.

Spotts1701 wrote:

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Seriously, should they just go in shooting stuff? The kids will survive a flash-bang.

Have you ever experienced what a flash-bang sounds and feels like when it goes off?

*raises hand* I have, and holy fuck, how anyone could sleep through that is beyond me. I had ear protection on and my ears were ringing for a long time. It was about 20 minutes before I could hear anything out of the near ear, but then again, the damn thing landed a hell of a lot closer than I thought it would.

(This is what you get when you aren't picky about acting jobs. This is also the gig that trashed my shoulder.)

lemmingwriter wrote:

Spotts1701 wrote:

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Seriously, should they just go in shooting stuff? The kids will survive a flash-bang.

Have you ever experienced what a flash-bang sounds and feels like when it goes off?

*raises hand* I have, and holy fuck, how anyone could sleep through that is beyond me. I had ear protection on and my ears were ringing for a long time. It was about 20 minutes before I could hear anything out of the near ear, but then again, the damn thing landed a hell of a lot closer than I thought it would.

(This is what you get when you aren't picky about acting jobs. This is also the gig that trashed my shoulder.)

...You really are accident-prone.

theweirdkind wrote:

lemmingwriter wrote:

Spotts1701 wrote:

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Seriously, should they just go in shooting stuff? The kids will survive a flash-bang.

Have you ever experienced what a flash-bang sounds and feels like when it goes off?

*raises hand* I have, and holy fuck, how anyone could sleep through that is beyond me. I had ear protection on and my ears were ringing for a long time. It was about 20 minutes before I could hear anything out of the near ear, but then again, the damn thing landed a hell of a lot closer than I thought it would.

(This is what you get when you aren't picky about acting jobs. This is also the gig that trashed my shoulder.)

...You really are accident-prone.

I shit you not, I fell out of an armored vehicle and landed wrong while in handcuffs. Quite possibly the strangest injury I've ever received.

lemmingwriter wrote:

Spotts1701 wrote:

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Seriously, should they just go in shooting stuff? The kids will survive a flash-bang.

Have you ever experienced what a flash-bang sounds and feels like when it goes off?

*raises hand* I have, and holy fuck, how anyone could sleep through that is beyond me. I had ear protection on and my ears were ringing for a long time. It was about 20 minutes before I could hear anything out of the near ear, but then again, the damn thing landed a hell of a lot closer than I thought it would.

(This is what you get when you aren't picky about acting jobs. This is also the gig that trashed my shoulder.)

Still: ringing ears > dead, yeah?