Park argument led 18-year-old to shooting 12-year-old girl, say police

A 12-year-old girl is recovering after she was shot at a park on the city's east side late Tuesday night.

The incident happened near a play scape at an east side Detroit park - and now – Detroit police are after the shooter they say is an 18-year-old  who knew the victim.

"We going to find you and we are going to hold you accountable for it," said Cmdr. Gerry Johnson Jr., DPD.

Johnson Jr. says the 12-year-old was at Denby Park with a group of friends near Morang and Riad just before 10 p.m.  

That’s when they ran into the alleged shooter.  

"It's believed that he knew her and he didn't want to have any type of conversation with our victim," he said.

From there – an argument, then pushing and shoving. Police say it hit a tipping point when the shooter grabbed his gun and fired at the little girl who was grazed by a bullet on her hip.  

She was taken by family to Sinai Grace Hospital where she was released today.

The story first told to investigators – didn’t check out at first, Johnson said.

"The story did change but we were able to gather evidence to corroborate the right story," he said.

The commander, thankful – the little girl will be ok and says this is another example of settling a squabble with a weapon.  

 "De-escalation. How to resolve conflict, how to respect other people's ideals, and how to walk away from conflict," Johnson said.

Detroit Police have a very vague description of the 18-year-old man they’re looking for, we’re told they’re actively chasing up leads, and say they’re confident they’ll find the shooter.

As always, if you know anything about the shooting – call Detroit police at (313) 267-4600 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.