Gunshots in the city

Interesting story on Crain's.

"The sound of gunfire has a way of putting things into perspective.


At the end of this video is one of the most true-to-life experiences one can have in Detroit.


We were at Riverfront-Lakewood East Park shooting a video as a companion piece to Tom Henderson's blog about the state of Belle Isle when gunfire rang out. Two shots … pause … then another.


Henderson, a lifelong Detroiter, remained calm, even cracking a joke that someone must be trying to kill a rat.
But he knew better. We all did."


http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...ts-with-public


Is gunfire such a common occurrence that its no big deal? I'm in the city everyday but haven't heard any shots fired.

I suppose it depends in what part of the city you're in. I hear gunfire every single day that I spend between 7 and 8 mile. I hear gunfire when I'm in corktown about once a week, and its echo is coming from a distance.

Except for that time that some guy started shooting at someone in front of my house on valentines day. And the shooting at the gas station on mi ave, and that one time...


It's Detroit. Comes with the territory.

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Originally Posted by detroitsgwenivere

Except for that time that some guy started shooting at someone in front of my house on valentines day. And the shooting at the gas station on mi ave, and that one time...

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The only times that I ever heard gunshots when I lived in the city was on V-E Day and V-J Day when all of the neighbors who were hunters were out on the street blazing away up in the air with their shotguns.

I asked my mother what they were doing and she said it meant my father would be coming home [[In an infantry battalion all the way from New Zealand to Tokyo via Guadalcanal, the Munda Trail, Aitape in New Guinea, and the Lingayen Gulf Landing on Luzon).

I hear automatic gun fire once or twice a week and single gun shots a few times an evening living a couple blocks away from Mack Avenue in Grosse Pointe. The constant gunfire started pretty much this spring and has continued. In the past four years since I moved here gunfire had been very sporadic. Then there is New Years on the east side, for those who want to hear what a fire fight sounds like spend the evening/morning over here. The only thing we don't hear is artillery.

Semi-automatic, at least once a week north of Carpenter on the Detroit side, just north of Hamtramck.

I usually count the shots between the gun jamming.

East Side? If you don't get woken up by gunshots @ least once a week, you start wondering if the shooter's Ok.

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Originally Posted by p69rrh51

I hear automatic gun fire once or twice a week and single gun shots a few times an evening living a couple blocks away from Mack Avenue in Grosse Pointe. The constant gunfire started pretty much this spring and has continued. In the past four years since I moved here gunfire had been very sporadic. Then there is New Years on the east side, for those who want to hear what a fire fight sounds like spend the evening/morning over here. The only thing we don't hear is artillery.

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This is pretty accurate. I can hear it pretty regularly from the north[[48205 ish) and from the west [[Morningside). There isn't much left in either direction, so I'm not sure who or what is still being shot at anymore.

New Years Eve cannot be overstated. It is absolutely surreal. It sounds like Omaha beach.

It's all pretty unfuriatingly stupid.

I'm sick of gun noise, in the background, foreground whatever. the block has a single street light which doesn't work half the time. I fear relaxing near any window, for fear some maniac's stray bullet will take me out. When I hear gun noise "nearby", I call 911, but who knows what happens, if anything. I want to live in a community without guns.

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Originally Posted by poobert

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Originally Posted by p69rrh51
I hear automatic gun fire once or twice a week and single gun shots a few times an evening living a couple blocks away from Mack Avenue in Grosse Pointe. The constant gunfire started pretty much this spring and has continued. In the past four years since I moved here gunfire had been very sporadic. Then there is New Years on the east side, for those who want to hear what a fire fight sounds like spend the evening/morning over here. The only thing we don't hear is artillery.

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This is pretty accurate. I can hear it pretty regularly from the north[[48205 ish) and from the west [[Morningside). There isn't much left in either direction, so I'm not sure who or what is still being shot at anymore.

New Years Eve cannot be overstated. It is absolutely surreal. It sounds like Omaha beach.

It's all pretty unfuriatingly stupid.

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+1 on all that. earlier in the summer we were sitting outside having drinks with a bunch of friends and some were not from the GP area. My one friend simply would not believe that what we were hearing was gunfire [[a lot of it...someone had evidently been very disrespected). "oh that has to be fireworks...otherwise we'd hear sirens of the cops responding". That was the laugh line of the night.

for ye grosse pointers. When i was off whittier near the freeway it always sounded like it was coming from the west southwest. I always figured the Mack & Lakewood area or Wayburn Chandler Park area

To me the scariest part is the amount of firepower that people own. The large caliber, rapid fire, automatic weapons are the worst.

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Originally Posted by rex

for ye grosse pointers. When i was off whittier near the freeway it always sounded like it was coming from the west southwest. I always figured the Mack & Lakewood area or Wayburn Chandler Park area

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The gunfire is not even coming from that far away its coming from the blocks right along Mack in 48224 and the part of 48236 that is in Detroit.

A good portion of the gunfire you guys are hearing isn't being directed at anyone in particular. It's people target shooting in their yards, especially in the areas where there is a lot of empty acreage.

This isn't just young people, older property owners do it too. They figure it saves the gas and lane rental $ at the range, and that if they shoot at a target in front of a large berm, than no one will get hurt.

Yeah I know its not acceptable to most folks. But its hard to convince people to do what you would rather them do when they see so many others doing it.

My family target shoots, legally, in the yard, but they live in the sticks on 12 acres.

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Originally Posted by detroitsgwenivere

A good portion of the gunfire you guys are hearing isn't being directed at anyone in particular. It's people target shooting in their yards, especially in the areas where there is a lot of empty acreage.

This isn't just young people, older property owners do it too. They figure it saves the gas and lane rental $ at the range, and that if they shoot at a target in front of a large berm, than no one will get hurt.

Yeah I know its not acceptable to most folks. But its hard to convince people to do what you would rather them do when they see so many others doing it.

My family target shoots, legally, in the yard, but they live in the sticks on 12 acres.

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I guess the law against discharging a firearm in the city is lost on most of them. Though most all the gunfire just off Mack is not someone just firing their weapons for fun as its still fairly dense as opposed to areas just west of here. Just ask the Grosse Pointe Police as they have been involved in a few battles along Mack since the start of spring.

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Originally Posted by detroitsgwenivere

A good portion of the gunfire you guys are hearing isn't being directed at anyone in particular. It's people target shooting in their yards, especially in the areas where there is a lot of empty acreage.

This isn't just young people, older property owners do it too. They figure it saves the gas and lane rental $ at the range, and that if they shoot at a target in front of a large berm, than no one will get hurt.

Yeah I know its not acceptable to most folks. But its hard to convince people to do what you would rather them do when they see so many others doing it.

My family target shoots, legally, in the yard, but they live in the sticks on 12 acres.

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I couldn't tell if you were kidding or not.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/9...AL01/120606001

Oh, and I suppose this map is just the kindly old folks doin' target practice on their acreage and just HAPPENED TO have bad aim and accidentally hit their neighbors, but everyone was okay, no hard feelings.

Spend a week in the eastside and talk to me about friendly neighborhood shooting ranges. It's thugs and drugs, do you dig it?

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Originally Posted by poobert

I couldn't tell if you were kidding or not.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/9...AL01/120606001

Oh, and I suppose this map is just the kindly old folks doin' target practice on their acreage and just HAPPENED TO have bad aim and accidentally hit their neighbors, but everyone was okay, no hard feelings.

Spend a week in the eastside and talk to me about friendly neighborhood shooting ranges. It's fucking thugs and drugs, do you dig it?

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The reason I know this is because I've lived on the eastside, have friends who live in the prairies of the eastside, and am involved with community groups that are attempting to provide services on the eastside. Hell I've lived in the Detroit area my whole life. Seen all kinds of things that are prevalent, like good people firing their guns for practice, and dumbasses who make a habit out of showing off their hardware. All thugs and drugs, if you say so...

I won't pretend I haven't been present while people have shot their firearms in their yards. I'm just not in a position to do anything about it, or tell my elders in their yard that they own how they need to live their lives. That's just me. I certainly never said that the majority of shots being fired aren't responsible for harm being perpetrated onto others. I just know that gunplay is SO common in some places, that some don't question safety or legality. It is what it is.

In Southwest Detroit it's not target practice. It's gangs with guns. A HS sophomore was killed last week in broad daylight at Michigan & Martin in some gang thing. Her sister's boyfriend was the target. She just happened to be in the car with after school.

Every time I'm at a family member's house in Warren, at 13 and Van Dyke, gunshots are pretty much the norm.

BTW, whenever I go to Stoney Creek Metropark, way out on 26 Mile this is also the case!!!

"A good portion of the gunfire you guys are hearing isn't being directed at anyone in particular. It's people target shooting in their yards, especially in the areas where there is a lot of empty acreage."

Years ago, a friend was eating dinner with his wife, in their home, when he slumped over on the dinner table. Blood poured out of his side, and an ambulance was called. When the cops arrived, the shooter was still in his garage, ear protection on, shooting @ a target on the wall with his magnum. My friend made it so I guess no harm done.

"Every time I'm at a family member's house in Warren, at 13 and Van Dyke, gunshots are pretty much the norm."

I had the same experience visiting a friend in the Ritzier part of Clarkston. We went to the dogwalk in the woods, and shots were constantly heard all around us. It wasn't hunting season so it was a bit unnerving. So much for getting away from the City.

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Originally Posted by detroitsgwenivere

The reason I know this is because I've lived on the eastside, have friends who live in the prairies of the eastside, and am involved with community groups that are attempting to provide services on the eastside. Hell I've lived in the Detroit area my whole life. Seen all kinds of things that are prevalent, like good people firing their guns for practice, and dumbasses who make a habit out of showing off their hardware. All thugs and drugs, if you say so...

I won't pretend I haven't been present while people have shot their firearms in their yards. I'm just not in a position to do anything about it, or tell my elders in their yard that they own how they need to live their lives. That's just me. I certainly never said that the majority of shots being fired aren't responsible for harm being perpetrated onto others. I just know that gunplay is SO common in some places, that some don't question safety or legality. It is what it is.

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I know you're a Detroiter. The trouble is that while the eastside is largely decimated [[well, there's the Villages and East English Village which have retained a non-lunar quality), most of it isn't prairie. Only really the old Poletown area and just west of Alter Road are really empty of people [[or anywhere nearly empty enough to go popping off a few rounds for kicks or practice). Certainly not the areas myself and the GP residents here are talking about, either. Most of the gunshots I hear are between the hours of 10pm and 4am, which would be a strange [[albeit challenging) time to practice marksmanship. Once in a while you'll get a volley going, and I don't think I'm wrong in my assumption that the folks in question are likely pointing their weapons at, rather than parellel to, each other. While we don't have shootouts in my neighborhood, it certainly affects our quality of life knowing that crap is going on around us.

Frankly I refuse to make excuses for something as serious - and downright stupid - as misuse of a firearm. In fact I'm quite fed up with all the excuses made on behalf of many of my fellow city residents. To quote from Animal House, "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

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Originally Posted by Detroitej72

Every time I'm at a family member's house in Warren, at 13 and Van Dyke, gunshots are pretty much the norm.

BTW, whenever I go to Stoney Creek Metropark, way out on 26 Mile this is also the case!!!

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I'm calling BS on this. I live at 14 and Van Dyke and have never heard a single gunshot. I know people who live along Van Dyke and have never heard gunshots. I know people who stayed in the hotels and never hear gunshots. Warren police would be all over that if there were gunshots.

When I lived in Harper Woods, gunshots were heard occasionally mostly from around or south of Moross. Each year they seemed to get more frequent.

I had a neighbor in Indian Village who piled up sandbags in front of his garage and took target practice there most mornings with a wide variety of weaponry, including some automatics. The neighbor behind me though would just stand on his back porch in the middle of the night when he was drunk and fire his hunting rifle or cheap pistol into the air at random while yelling about "those motherf**kers." He also shot his garage full of holes taking target practice from his kitchen window.

Then there was the night someone opened up with an automatic weapons crossfire on the crack house on the street behind us at 3 AM... only one round came through our windows.

After the end of the crack boom it all died down for many years, and I heard gunfire relatively rarely, but now I hear it off in the distance pretty regularly from my remote post down by Belle Isle.

New Years eve is, of course, insane. When we lived at ground level we used to celebrate on the floor.

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Originally Posted by poobert

To quote from Animal House, "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

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No argument there.

And stupid doesn't wear a watch, either.

Im aware of the high crime belt lining the far eastside, and that the 7mile bloods and Mack town boss hogs are reeking havok in the areas some of you are referring to. Chi town bangers have been setting up shop in Detroit for the last few years. But they are havin a hard time keeping ranks, as one guy put it: "Detroit n*gaz will kill your grandmother over .25 cent." They shoot each other faster than they can recruit.

The prairies I was mainly referring to are Chalmers/Houston whittier, vandyke/ harper/gratiot, mi industrial development zone/mt. Elliot, and city airport.

I did forget to mention the escalating number of "urban hunters." I do know of a few guys who hunt varmints at night in fox creek with their 22s. ;)