5-year-old shot in car, prompting Detroit pastor to warn against ‘desensitization’

FOX 2 (WJBK) – A community is outraged by a 5-year-old girl and a man were shot Tuesday on the city’s west side.

“This bullet hit a small child. It could have ended her life and left her mother and father grieving at a coffin and wondering, ‘Why? God, why?’ “All because you had a conflict with someone and couldn’t resolve the dispute peacefully,” said Pastor Maurice Hardwick of the Live In Peace movement.

Detroit police heard the shots Tuesday around 5:45 p.m. ShotSpotter technology led officers to Plainview, near Westfield on the West Side.

Initially only cartridge cases were found. It was later reported that a five-year-old girl was shot in the leg in a car and was taken to the hospital.

A man suffering from a gunshot wound to the right shoulder later went to the police station.

Both victims are expected to survive while the suspect remains at large.

“This is becoming more and more common,” said Deputy Chief Jacqueline Pritchett of the Detroit Police Department. “I’m really tired of coming to places where kids get hurt by gunfire.”

Less than a month ago, a three-year-old accidentally shot himself with a gun. In August, an 8-year-old was shot in a drive-by incident on the east side.

“And it’s just another incident that adds to our desensitization,” Hardwick added. “People look at the news and say, ‘Oh my God, another kid got shot.’ And the shooter is out there thinking, ‘Oh my God, I hope I don’t get caught.'”

Pastor Hardwick works with both young people and those incarcerated for crimes like this. He advocates a better solution: lay down your weapons and extend your hand.

“I know the person responsible had no intention of shooting the little girl,” Hardwick said. “That’s why I tell you, you can’t solve problems this way. Even if you think, ‘I didn’t mean to harm that child,’ solving problems with a gun is not the solution. This is what you should do.” Call a violence interrupter like me, I’m a violence interrupter, not the police. I’m here to help you avoid an encounter with law enforcement.

Detroit police are conducting an investigation. Updates will follow. If you have any information, contact Detroit police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP. You can remain anonymous.