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Detroit grandmother's house shot up 5 different times, suspects squatters

Published  August 9, 2018 5:11pm EDT
News
FOX 2 Detroit

DETROIT (WJBK) - A Detroit grandmother is at her wits end about how dangerous her neighborhood has become as her house has been shot up at least five times in the past year and a half.

Thursday morning was the latest shooting with a bullet going right through the glass and into Tanina McKing's home on Norwood.

"They hit the window sometimes and sometimes they miss the window," McKing said. "It went through the double pane glass and hit the wall over there."

Past that wall is a bedroom where her grandsons were sleeping.

"I heard pop pop pop pop pop. I know how it sounds when it hits the glass because I've heard it so many times already," she said. "And I checked the wall, it didn't go through. I'm like - thank god - but that's the first concern: the kids. They should not have to keep going through this."

McKing said this is the fifth time in the past 18 months that her house has been shot up in the middle of the night. She suspects a squatter who used to live next door but she doesn't really know.

"I really think it's somebody trying to get me to move out of this house - somebody wants this house - because we had squatters over here and that's when it started," McKing said.

When FOX 2 was at her home, we found bullet holes that she's tried to patch. Every three or four months, they come back and shoot again.

She said the second time they shot the house, they found 12 casings outside. It's frightening for her grandsons - who are often over visiting but she doesn't feel she has any options.

"I can't just pick up and move," she said. "And I don't want to move. I love my house. I don't want to go anywhere," McKing said.

What she wants is for the shooting to stop and for Detroit Police to make an arrest. DPD said they are working the case.

"Eventually it's going to stop. I just hope don't nobody have to die for it to stop," she said.

Clearly nobody should have to live like this and somebody knows something. Anyone who knows anything is asked to call Detroit Police or Crimestoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.