Deadly officer-involved shooting at drag race scene, Lodge shutdown for shooting investigation, border reopens
MONDAY NEWS HIT - One man is dead after being shot by Detroit police following a collision with undercover officers during a drag racing scene on the city's east side Monday morning.
Suspects in a stolen blue Dodge Charger had been doing donuts where several hundred people had gathered around 12:30 a.m. when one of them crashed into an unmarked police vehicle.
One of the passengers got out of the car and pointed a gun at the police. The officer shot the suspect in fear he could be harmed.
"It's just tragic that bad decisions - this kind of activity - could have caused the life of our officers to be taken," said 1st Assistant Chief Todd Bettison. "It ultimately resulted in a young man losing his life."
By 5:15 a.m., the scene had been cleared. But more than 200 people were at the intersection of Milwaukee and E. Grand Boulevard where several people were drag racing and donuts in the street. It's a common place for drag racing, police say.
There were still several tire marks where the drivers had been doing burnouts.
Detroit police have initiated harsher penalties and ramped up resources like extra manpower and overtime shifts to curb illegal street racing. They've even gotten the help of aerial units from Michigan State Police.
But on Monday, it was two undercover police officers capturing footage of the drag racing scene when four people in a stolen blue Charger rammed into their vehicle.
Police open-fired on one of the passengers after they exited the vehicle and pointed a firearm at the officer.
"Our officer was fearing for his life after just being rammed. The passenger exiting with that weapon fired approximately 3-4 shots," said Bettison.
Police are still searching for three other suspects that were in the car at the time of the crash. They fled after the fourth passenger in the vehicle was killed.
Lodge shuts down for freeway shooting investigation
Michigan State Police shut down Northbound Lodge at Davison for a freeway shooting Monday morning. The regional dispatch center received a call at 3:50 a.m. Monday from a driver who said his car had been shot.
The victim continued driving home, where police found him safe. A release from police said troopers that visited the Southfield resident's home were able to find bullet holes in his car.
The caller said he had left downtown driving north on M-10 when a Black male in a black Ford drove next him and started yelling at him. Moments later, the suspect fired multiple shots into the passenger side of the car.
The caller didn't see which direction the shooter's vehicle went and advised it wasn't a road rage issue and wasn't aware of any issues he had with the suspect prior to the shooting. Police conducted a shell casing search Monday.
Canadian-U.S. border reopens to Americans today
After more than a year-and-a-half, the United States and Canada border, the longest international border in the world, is set to reopen for U.S. citizens fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Canadian officials announced on July 19 that it would ease restrictions to allow U.S. citizens to return for nonessential travel. The decision came as both countries were under intense scrutiny to reopen the order and before the delta variant took such a stronghold in the U.S.
Traffic was expected to be blocked up over the threat of a strike from customs workers. However, the union representing workers resolved contract issues with the government last Friday. But there's still lots to know ahead of your drive into the country.
You'll need evidence of completing a vaccine regimen, a negative COVID-19 test, as well as a completed form on an app. Read everything you need to know here.
Michigan gas prices dip after setting new 2021-high
The average price for a gallon of gas in Michigan is $3.30, which is one cent lower than the 2021-high reached last week. Michigan drivers are still paying 10 cents more on average than they were at the start of last week.
They're also paying 11 cents more than this time last month and $1.10 more than they were this time last year. The Energy Information Administration said demand increased by several hundred thousand more barrels in its weekly report. Driving rates appear to be up 2% from this time in 2019 as well.
A slight bump in crude prices came after three days of decline due to concerns from the market about rising COVID-19 infection rates linked to the Delta variant.
Compared to last week, Metro Detroit's average daily gas price increased. Metro Detroit's current average is $3.36 per gallon, about 6 cents more than last week's average and $1.12 more than this same time last year.
Michigan teen catches record-size salmon
Louis Martinez will never have to embellish the proverbial fish story after confirmation that he set a new state record for the largest Chinook salmon ever caught in Michigan.
The teenager from Ortonville, Michigan, reeled in the nearly 48-pounder (22 kilograms) on Saturday morning while fishing on a charter boat in Lake Michigan with his mom, sister and stepdad. The previous record — a Chinook salmon of just over 46 pounds (21 kilograms) caught on the Grand River in Kent County — had stood for 43 years.
The 19-year-old Martinez, on his first fishing expedition for salmon, battled to pull the record-setting fish in for some 30 minutes off the lake’s Big Sable Point, the Ludington Daily News reported.
"The first 10 minutes were quite a fight," said Martinez, adding that his arms began to feel sore toward the end of his struggle with the big fish. Martinez described the captain of the boat, Bobby Sullivan, and his family members screaming with excitement as they finally got the fish on deck. "They were all screaming, and I was like: ‘What did I do?’" Martinez said.
What else we're watching
- The National Weather Service is already considering a flash flood watch alert for later this week due to the potential for severe storms. It's best to plan accordingly as that could mean heavy storms not unlike what we've seen earlier this summer.
- Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy appeared on NBC Nightly News Sunday for a segment on conviction integrity units after exonerating 29 people as part of a program from the county.
- U.S. Senators appear to have locked down a bold new infrastructure package priced at $1 trillion. Michigan Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. today to discuss the bipartisan bill.
- The Western Wayne Family Health Centers will celebrate its grand opening in Dearborn Monday, using a grant to hire two health care workers fluent in English and Arabic to make services more accessible for local Middle Eastern families.
- A large police presence will be at the East Hills Middle School on Kensington Road this week for a training operation. Residents shouldn't be alarmed by seeing the large number of officers.
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Daily Forecast
It's going to be a muggy and rain-potential week for the next few days as humidity and hot temperatures make their return.
'Code red for humanity': UN climate change report warns of 'unprecedented' impacts
Earth’s climate is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past a level of warming that world leaders have sought to prevent, according to a report released Monday that the United Nations calls a "code red for humanity."
"It’s just guaranteed that it’s going to get worse," said report co-author Linda Mearns, a senior climate scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research. "I don’t see any area that is safe ... Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide."
But scientists also eased back a bit on the likelihood of the absolute worst climate catastrophes.
The authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which calls climate change clearly human-caused and "unequivocal," makes more precise and warmer forecasts for the 21st century than it did last time it was issued in 2013.