[9][10] Then came the homicide-by-cop of little Aiyana. So bad is the rivalry that when the schools face off to play football or basketball, spectators from the visiting team are banned. [11], On May 14, 2010, Southeastern High School senior Je'Rean Blake[12][13][14] was shot and killed near the intersection of Mack and Beniteau streets on Detroit's east side. Detroit Charles Jones,whose role in ahigh school student's 2010 slayinghelped spark thepolice raid that ended with the officer-involved shooting death of his 7-year-old daughter Aiyana Stanley-Jones, has been granted parole. By 1958, 20 percent of the Detroit workforce was jobless. But defense attorney Steve Fishman says Jones has no credibility because she's told different stories about what happened. On October 10, the second trial ended in another mistrial. In the process, the gun belonging to police officer Joseph Weekley . [37], Weekley's retrial started in September 2014. Ive seen him in the faces of soldiers when I was covering the Iraq War. On May 16, 2010, 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones was shot and killed in her sleep by Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley after he accidentally entered the wrong apartment in an unannounced SWAT team raid. He failed to report. Owens sped two blocks back to Lillibridge and gathered up a posse, according to his statement to the police. People involved. "They said he'll be on parole until 2030, and he or his family can't be around my family. If such a thing could be true, Chaises neighborhood is worse than JeReans. Inside, toys, Hannah Montana shoes, and a pyramid of KFC cartons were left to rot. The city of Detroit has settled a lawsuit with the family of a girl shot and killed by a Detroit police officer nine years ago. The police have been working under a federal consent decree since a 2003 investigation found that detectives were locking up murder witnesses for days on end, without access to a lawyer, until they coughed up a name. The psychopathology of growing up in Detroit, he said. A member of JROTC, he was on his way to the military recruitment office after senior prom and commencement. I was allowed to meet with Charles Jones the following morning at Fiegers office, but with the caveat that I could only ask him questions about the evening his daughter was killed. One man, who wanted to turn himself in for a murder, gave up trying to call the Detroit police; he drove to Ohio and turned himself in there. The lawsuit asserts that police were outside of the home where they "blindly fired random shots," and one of the bullets fatally struck the 7-year-old child in the neck. Aiyana Mo'Nay Stanley-Jones, 7, died May 16, 2010 after being shot by an officer during a police raid in Detroit. One of the punks killed him claiming self-defense even though he had the gun and was the aggressor. He won't be in the field. The grenade landed so close to Aiyana that it burned her blanket.. His seven-year-old daughter, Aiyana Mo'nay Stanley-Jones (PDF), slept on the couch as her grandmother watched television. But Officer Joseph Weekley accidentally shot Aiyana in the head, killing her. The dismissal was at the request of Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy, who called the decision, which by law cannot be appealed, unfortunate. The family of Aiyana Jones, the 7-year-old girl accidentally killed by a Detroit police officer during a raid in 2010, has reached settlement with the city o. I called the fire department to ask for its statistics. You dont go into a home around midnight. Aiyana Jones was 7 when she was killed in a police raid. It all happened in a matter of seconds. The little girl in the video was based on a true story, according to MTV.com. I know society looks at a person like me and wants me to go away, she said. If someone needs a scapegoat for what's happening here - and what's happening here is justice - then put it on me.". Compounding the tragedy is the fact that the police threw the grenade into the wrong apartment. [12] Charles Jones, Aiyana's father, wore a black suit, pink tie and pink handkerchief in remembrance of his daughter as pink was her favorite color. Aiyana Jones' step aunt Kayia White and step mom Dominique Simpson, right, sit on the front porch next to a blood spattered sofa in Detroit on . Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation. So Dr. Schmidt keeps them on layaway, zipped up in body bags as family members wait for a ship to come in that never seems to arrive. He said. By wit and will, he managed to make it through. Aiyana Stanley-Jones, who was shot and killed in her sleep by a bullet from Joseph Weekley's gun during the A&E filmed documented raid was laid to rest at the Second Ebenezer Church in Detroit on May 22, 2010. [49], Aiyana Jones' funeral was held in the Second Ebenezer Church on May 22, 2010 in Detroit. Jones was arrested, and though she was quickly released it was not before she and two other family members Aiyanas parents had been forced to sit in their childs blood for hours, Scott said. And he wouldnt even help her. The Detroit City Council needs to approve the settlement. She denied grabbing the weapon. Behind the door was Jason Gibson, 25, a violent man with a history of gun crimes, assaults on police, and repeated failures to honor probationary sentences. Weekley was the first officer to enter the home, seconds after a flashbang grenade a war device created by the British SAS in the 1960s to disorient with a blinding flash and a temporarily deafening noise was lobbed into it. Officials said Gibson ran out the front of the house. Judge Hathaway emphasized that two juries, in 2013 and 2014, couldn't reach a unanimous verdict. 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint. This has helped reinforce a culture shift within police departments. A minute later, a friend took the two dollars as a keepsake. [24] Geoffrey Fieger, the family's lawyer, said the police fired the shot that struck Aiyana from outside the home, possibly through the open front door. Twenty-five-year-old Charles Jones had just gone to bed after covering his 7-year-old daughter Aiyana with her favorite blanket. Except there aint no job. Cole's character, it turns out, is a drug dealer. The beavers disappeared from the river around 1930. Weekley was transferred from the Special Response Team to the Criminal Investigations Bureau. Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do. ReverendAl Sharpton gave the eulogy. Aiyana Joness funeral was held on May 22, 2010, at the Second Ebenezer BaptistChurch in Detroit where Alfred (Al) Charles Sharpton Jr. gave the eulogy. Weekley claimed Aiyana Jones' paternal grandmother, Mertilla Jones, attempted to slap his MP5 submachine gun, causing it to fire. The kids are dropping like flies and hes got nothing but useless words., CHECK OUT A SLIDESHOW OF ABANDONED HOUSES ON ONE BLOCK IN DETROIT, join us with a tax-deductible donation today. It was 12:40 am on Sunday, May 16, 2010. The suspect fingered for Blakes murder, Chauncey Owens, lived in the upstairs flat, with Charles Jones sister. Little Aiyana's death is heartbreaking! I went to see Fieger to ask him to show me the tape. I need help. [12], Two weeks prior to the incident, a Detroit police officer had been killed in the line of duty while attempting to arrest a suspect. Can she be blamed for that? Subscribe today and get a full year of Mother Jones for just $14.95. Why you looking at me? said Owens, getting off the moped. While a thousand people mourned the tragic death of Aiyana, the body of JeRean Blake Nobles sat in a refrigerator at a local funeral parlor; his mother was too poor to bury him herself and too respectful to bury him until after the little girls funeral, anyhow. Police arrested Mertilla, administered tests for drugs and gunpowder, and released her Sunday morning. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. . Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy, though his heart did not seem to be in it. So is the house across the street. He became a horrifying statisticone of 103 kids and teens murdered between January 2009 and July 2010. Family: 7-year-old shot by police was asleep. Both trials ended with hung juries. The city filled with people from all over the world: Arabs, Appalachians, Poles, African Americans, all in their separate neighborhoods surrounding the factories. Police report that they arrested the suspect at the duplex where the . School wasnt a priority. Aiyana Mo'Nay Stanley Jones (July 20, 2002 - May 16, 2010), was a seven-year-old girl from the East Side of Detroit, Michigan who was shot and killed during a raid conducted by the Detroit Police Department's Special Response Team on May 16, 2010. He assigned the SWAT team the job of rounding up murder suspects, a task that had previously been done by detectives. Seven-year-old Aiyana Jones was sleeping on the couch next to her grandmother in their Detroit, Michigan home when a SWAT team threw a flashbang through the window, which landed on her blanket. And America is buying. And Ive got to say in all my years in the department, Ive never used a flash-bang in a case like this.. [CHECK OUT A SLIDESHOW OF ABANDONED HOUSES ON ONE BLOCK IN DETROIT]I keep calling about these falling-down houses, but the city never comes, she said. In Detroit, the official response time of an ambulance to a 911 call is 12 minutes. More than 4,000 people attended Officer Huffs funeral at the Greater Grace Temple on the citys Northwest Side. [19], Police officers, bystanders, and residents of the home disagreed about the events that followed. They were restless and agitated and pulled at the collars of dress blues that didnt seem to fit. In an attempt to distract the occupants, police fired a flash grenade through the front window of the lower apartment, where Aiyana Jones was sleeping. [12], Owens was later found guilty of Blake's murder. She later went to nursing school but got sidetracked by her own health problems. Known as Half-Day Hathaway, the judge was removed from the bench for six months by the Michigan Supreme Court a decade ago for, among other things, adjourning trials to sneak away on vacation. In this way, what happened to J Cole's daughter? Wage growth is slowing. Within seconds, Weekleyfired hisMP5 rifle, killingAiyana, who was sleeping on the living room couch with her grandmother Mertilla Jones. As for the videotape of the killing, Geoffrey Fieger said he did not have it. And now that the papers do cover Detroit, boosters complain about a lack of balance. He, too, was about to graduate from Southeastern High. What happened after that is a matter of conjecture, as Detroit officials have had problems getting their stories straight. I asked him if the way he was raising his daughter, the people he exposed her to, or the neighborhood where they livedwith its decaying houses and liquor storesmay have played a role. But according to a witness, he said nothing. [6][7][8] A wary Detroit police officer keeps watch over an unruly crowd after an arrest on the East Side.The judge, Cynthia Gray Hathaway, set his bond at $20,000only 10 percent of which was due upfrontand adjourned the trial without explanation, according to the docket. The service was held at Second Ebenezer Church in Detroit, a drab cake-shaped megachurch near the Chrysler Freeway. Over the next 50 years, Detroits East Side would become the worlds machine shop, its factory floor. JeRean might have thought it was funny to see a grown man driving a moped. People are drinking. Other auto plants sprang up on the East Side: Packard, Studebaker, Chryslers Dodge Main. Instead of being protected, communities are treated like the enemy, the report found with a disproportionate effect on communities of color. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2023 demands. That house, too, is on the citys East Side, a nondescript brick duplex with a crumbling garage whose driveway funnels into busy Schoenherr Road. There is speculation that the attending television crew may have increased the incentive for a glamorised, military-style operation. As a reporter at the Detroit News, I get plenty of phone calls from people in the neighborhoods. As Officer Weekley wept on the sidewalk, Aiyana was rushed to the trauma table, where she was pronounced dead. AS SUMMER DRAGGED on, the story of Aiyana faded from even the regional press. Over 10 years ago, Detroit police executed a nighttime raid at a home on the city's east side in search of a murder suspect. One year later, Aiyana Stanely Jones investigation mired in delays", "Homicide suspect hunted in raid that led to Aiyana's death is charged", "Man sentenced to life in prison for Detroit teen's death", "DPD officer involved in Aiyana Jones shooting identified", "Police, family look for answers in girl's death in Detroit", "How A Police Officer Shot A Sleeping 7-Year-Old To Death", "Detroit Police Officer Charged in Shooting Death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones", "Michigan Supreme Court Won't Hear Appeal in Weekley Case", "Slain girl's family alleges police cover-up", "Grandmother's fingerprints, DNA not found on Officer Weekley's submachine gun", "Officer whose bullet reportedly killed Aiyana Jones was frequently featured on A&E", "Mayor: Detroit doesn't know 'how to stop' killings", "Detroit police officer who shot 7-year-old returns to job after half decade on leave", "Joseph Weekley, Detroit Police Officer, Charged In Aiyana Stanley-Jones' Death During 'The First 48' Raid", "Cop Who Shot 7-Year-Old To Death Will Be Retried", "Second trial to begin today for officer in Aiyana's death", "A&E 'The First 48' producer who filmed Aiyana Jones shooting admits to obstructing justice", "Photographer pleads no contest to obstruction of justice in Aiyana Stanley-Jones case", "Videographer pleads in fatal Detroit police raid", "Videographer in fatal police raid gets probation", "Videographer in Aiyana Stanley-Jones raid gets 2 years of probation", "Judge declares mistrial in Aiyana case after jurors fail to reach verdict", "No more retrials, Aiyana's Family pleads", "In cop's retrial, attorneys at odds over how girl died", "Emotional 'show' put on by grandmother of slain 7-year-old Aiyana Jones not grounds for mistrial, judge says", "Detroit police officer back on trial accused of manslaughter in Aiyana Jones killing", "Mertilla Jones testified in Weekley case", "Weekley may seek retrial over tirade by witness", "Weekley prosecution nears its conclusion", "RAW VIDEO: Emotional outburst from grandmother of Aiyana Stanley-Jones halts Joseph Weekley retrial", "Grandmother to Detroit Police Officer Joseph Weekley: 'You killed my grandbaby', "Emotional outburst halts trial for Detroit officer in girl's death", "Officer Weekley trial halted until Monday after emotions run high - Fox 2 News Headlines", "Judge cites 'justice' in dropping charge against cop", "Surviving The Painful Funeral Of Aiyana Jones", "Lawsuit Alleges Police Cover-Up In Fatal Shooting Of Sleeping 7-Year-Old Aiyana Stanley-Jones", "Attorney files 2 lawsuits in death of Detroit girl", "Family of slain 7-year-old Aiyana Jones sues A&E for reality TV crew at Detroit police raid", "State to probe girl's slaying; lawyer disputes cops' account", "Fieger says police shooting no accident, he has proof", "Aiyana Jones case, attorney says Video shows police fired into Detroit home", "Cop in Aiyana Stanley-Jones shooting back on the job", "J. Cole dedicates video to dead 7-year-old girl", "J. Cole Dedicates 'Crooked Smile' Video To Slain 7-Year-Old Girl", "The 6th Anniversary of the Aiyana Jones Death", "Rally marks 2010 death of Aiyana in police raid", "Six arrested during rally honoring Aiyana Stanley-Jones", Joe "Brain" Weekley's webpage at A&E: Meet the SWAT Teams, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Killing_of_Aiyana_Jones&oldid=1139956467, This page was last edited on 17 February 2023, at 18:19. But got sidetracked by her own health problems the head, killing her instead of being,! The gun belonging to police Officer Joseph Weekley accidentally shot Aiyana in the video based. Upstairs flat, with Charles Jones had just gone to bed after covering his 7-year-old Aiyana... Gun, causing it to fire `` they said he did not have it person like me and wants to! Wit and will, he said as Officer Weekley wept on the living couch... 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