4 shot, 1 fatally at Pontiac house party

PONTIAC, Mich. (WJBK) - A young man is dead and three teenagers are hospitalized with gunshot wounds in Pontiac.

Investigators say it started as a robbery, and then someone pulled out a gun leaving three 17-year-olds shot and one man killed.

A house full of teens were having a party on Thorpe Street, when around 4 a.m. some unwelcome guests appeared.

"It was supposed to be just friends chilling," said Alexis Scott, who lives at that home. "And I can't tell you what made it go wrong."

It was an average house party for this group of friends until they say another group stopped by starting trouble and tried to rob them. Then a gun was pulled.

The victims were sitting inside when the shooting started. A 23-year-old man was killed. Some say he was the first to pull his weapon, and then at least one teen fired back. The bullets hit two others.

"I heard the gun shots, came down stairs and a few people were shot," Scott said.

Bloodstained couches were pulled to the curb Monday where the teens were sitting.

A 19-year-old man was shot in the shoulder. 17-year-old Pontiac High School student Zaire Thomas was shot in the abdomen and according to witnesses, before she was shot a second time, 17-year-old William Nelson stepped in front of the bullet.

Willie Nelson is the father of one of the teens shot.

"The dude was trying to take his money and trying to talk to the girl Zaire," Nelson said. "He had jumped in front of the lady Zaire or she would've got shot twice in the chest."

Detectives have been getting many conflicting reports but are not searching for any suspects at this time. Investigators are still looking to interview those who were at the party. William's father worried for his son's life.

"All you can do is pray and hope he be ok," Nelson said.

The three teens were seriously wounded but expected to survive, after undergoing surgery at McLaren Hospital.

"Parents don't want to be going to the hospital and bury their kids, I'm just tired," Nelson said. "I already got a son who's deceased from a gunshot wound. He was paralyzed from the neck down. It's a parent's worst nightmare."