Arrest made in fatal shooting of Devante Jones, WMU athletes score another court win, a $10M run for governor
Arrests made in case of fatal shooting of Wayne County corrections officer
Detroit police plan to give an update into new details regarding the murder investigation of Devante Jones, who was shot multiple times last September. They'll address the media alongside other police organizations at 11:30 a.m.
FRIDAY NEWS HIT - Detroit police plan on giving an update on an investigation into the murder of a Wayne County sheriff deputy after an arrest was made in the case.
An 11:30 a.m. press conference is scheduled to address arrests made in connection to the murder of Devante Jones, an off-duty corrections officer at the time he was shot. FOX 2 will stream the press conference on FOX2Detroit.com.
Jones was shot in the early hours of Sept. 20 after he dropped off a friend in the area of East Forest Avenue and the Chrysler Service Drive, which is just outside of the downtown area.
The Wayne County Sheriff's Office had few details to offer in the afternoon following the shooting. The undersheriff called the incident heartbreaking.
Jones was shot multiple times, according to police. He was in a car when the gunfire began. In an effort to escape injury, police said Jones left his car and fled the area.
He was found with multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital. He succumbed to his injuries at 4:48 a.m.
Prior to the shooting, Jones had gotten off his shift, which ended at 11 p.m. Sunday. The person he had dropped off was not a member of the sheriff's department, police said.
"We're pretty confident we're going to get the shooter," Undersheriff Mike Jaafar said during a news conference later that day.
The arrest update will include members of the Detroit Homicide Task Force and other law enforcement agencies.
Jones was a father who had another child that was expected to be born in November. He joined the department in October 2019 where he worked in Jail Division 1.
WMU student-athletes score another court win in vaccine mandate battle
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with 16 student-athletes from Western Michigan University after they sued the school over being allowed to play sports without getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Safety measures like mask-wearing and routine Covid testing will still be likely - something the clients are in agreement with.
"There are athletes all across the spectrum at Western right now and they’re just thrilled they couldn’t be happier," said attorney Dave Kallman. The attorneys' clients first won before a judge during a lower court ruling, which WMU appealed.
A 3-0 decision from the appeals court created a "binding precedent" that colleges can't require student-athletes to be vaccinated if they have a religious exemption. "This is not like they’re just saying, ‘Covid doesn’t exist. it’s not a problem, we don’t have to do anything,’ that wasn’t the issue."
Western can appeal this decision and take the fight over this vaccine mandate for student-athletes to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a statement, it said it remains committed to protecting its athletic program and says its vaccine policy plays a critical role in that effort. The school did not indicate whether it would appeal the ruling.
Metro Detroit businessman to run for governor
Kevin Rinke isn't jumping in the gubernatorial race unprepared to spend either. The Oakland County auto dealer says he will spend $10 million of his own money on the campaign. The only uncertainty is how his wife feels about it.
"She said you better win," he told FOX 2 Thursday. The lifelong Michigan resident got into the auto dealership business that his family has been apart of it and only recently decided he wanted to be governor. "I've run a good business, been successful, helped families, and proud to do it," he said.
Rinke says he supports Donald Trump and would welcome his endorsement. He has gotten the vaccine but would not mandate them. He also had criticisms for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her not spending enough time to keep Ford's Romeo engine plant.
Rinke has also been confronted with two lawsuits more than three decades ago. One for allegedly sexually harassing an employee and another for using the n-word. He paid $15,000 to settle the former case and the latter was dismissed.
Covid vaccines: The difference between a 3rd shot and a booster
Some people are getting their COVID-19 vaccine boosters and others are getting their third shot. While they may seem like the same thing, they aren't. Dr. Robert Dunne, the chief medical consultant City of Detroit explains that a booster is a shot given six months after the Pfizer vaccine. The booster is needed because immunity can start to fade after so long.
Right now, the Pfizer booster is the only approved booster. It is available for people older than 65. People 18-65 can get the booster if they have underlying health conditions or a job that is considered high risk.
If you received the Moderna vaccine, you cannot get the Pfizer booster. However, you could get a third shot. The third shot is for certain people whose immune systems are compromised. People who are not immunocompromised do not need a third shot.
"The thought for the people who need that third shot is that they didn't get a good reaction to the second shot because of some underlying medical conditions," Dunne said. If you believe that you may need a third COVID-19 shot because you are immunocompromised, speak with your doctor.
Police called after woman causes scene over music being played at store
A woman got mad that a Troy store was playing a song she did not like so she caused a scene, leading to police being called. Police said the 45-year-old woman was at Paradise Fruit Market on Sept. 27 when she heard the song. She told workers that the song made her sad and asked them to stop playing it.
When the workers told her they couldn't stop the song, she got angry and started yelling, so employees called police to escort the woman out of the store. However, the woman left and called the police to tell them she went to Sterling Heights.
An officer found the woman sitting in a vehicle on Parliament Drive west of Pall Mall Drive. As he was speaking to her, she got agitated, accused him of lying, and drove away, police said. The officer tried to use his vehicle to block the woman from leaving but she drove around the patrol car and left. She was stopped, arrested, and later charged with hinder and obstruction of a police officer.
After she was released from the Troy Lock-Up Facility, she walked into the police department and began screaming at the front desk attendant. Police said the woman would not calm down, so she was arrested again and a disorderly conduct charge was added.
What else we're watching
- The man who killed an MDOT road worker last year is scheduled to be sentenced to 0-11 years in prison for running over Zach Morisette. The family has protested the sentencing range, arguing it's too lenient for someone who hit and killed a road worker.
- The grand opening of a new woman-owned bakery is set to start around 10 a.m. Friday. Give Thanks Bakery will open at 3800 Woodward in Midtown.
- Free health screenings for a list of diseases will be available for men at Ford Field Saturday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Doctors like promoting events like this since it encourages preventative health care that can catch diseases before they become more serious.
- A 9-year-old boy that was reported missing Thursday has been found, Detroit police say. King Stubbs was with his father.
- The discovery of human bones beneath the intersection of Cass and Fort Street will get an update today when Chief James White addresses the media. Construction crews initially found the remains beneath a sidewalk.
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Daily Forecast
A rainy start to the day will help us wind down the week as clouds and fog greet morning commuters. Rain is expected for much of the afternoon and evening, though the temperatures won't reflect much shift in conditions. Plan on a muggy weekend before temperatures spike next week.
Biden administration to restore national monuments in Utah cut by Trump
President Joe Biden will restore two sprawling national monuments in Utah that have been at the center of a long-running public lands dispute, and a separate marine conservation area in New England that recently has been used for commercial fishing. Environmental protections at all three monuments had been stripped by former President Donald Trump.
The White House announced the changes Thursday night ahead of a ceremony expected Friday.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, expressed disappointment in Biden's decision to restore Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments, which the Trump administration downsized significantly in 2017.
The monuments cover vast expanses of southern Utah where red rocks reveal petroglyphs and cliff dwellings and distinctive buttes bulge from a grassy valley. Trump invoked the century-old Antiquities Act to cut 2 million acres (800,000 hectares) from the two monuments, calling restrictions on mining and other energy production a "massive land grab" that "should never have happened."