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Clinton Township mom shot and killed, husband arrested
A Clinton Township wife and mother was shot and killed Thursday night as police said they were responding to a domestic violence call.
STERLING HTS, Mich. (FOX 2) - Police have arrested a man they say shot and killed a Sterling Heights mom in front of their two kids as the couple was apparently working through the divorce process.
A neighbor's home surveillance system captured the horrific sounds of multiple gunshots as police said the woman was killed inside her own home.
Police said around 9 p.m. on Thursday, they got a call for help from the woman near Woodward Street and Beaconsfield in Sterling Heights. But by the time they arrived, she was found dead inside the home.
They say Thursday around 9 at night they got a call from the woman who would ultimately be discovered dead upon arriving at this home on Woodward Street close to Beaconsfield.
They called it a domestic violence call and ultimately took the victim’s husband into custody along with a weapon. The family’s next-door neighbor says he’s known the family for 6 years. He spoke with us but asked not to be identified.
"I heard gunshots. I came outside after I had noticed the police lights. They had taken the person down to the police car. I didn’t know exactly what happened at the moment," the neighbor told us.
The neighbor said he had just spoken to the man earlier in the day.
"He seemed fine. He didn't agitate, he didn't seem, irritated. Everything seemed normal," he said. "In a million years you never would have guessed he would have done something like this."
Police say the couple's two boys were at home before the shooting and neighbors say the kids ran from the home. Kayla Birmingham lives nearby and said someone took them to a convenience store to help get them away from the scene.
"The boys had (been) picked up, taken them to 7-Eleven to try and calm them down," Kayla said. "They're without both of them, in an instant, in a matter of a few moments. That’s the most heart-wrenching part. The kids didn’t deserve that."
In the United States, more than 10 million people are physically abused by an intimate partner every year, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. In Michigan, domestic violence is considered a misdemeanor and can result in a maximum punishment of 93 days in jail and/or a fine of $500, according to Michigan State Police.
NOTE: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the city as Sterling Heights.
For more information on domestic violence awareness in Michigan, visit MSP.