Update: 3 Charged in Murder - Mystery Victim Identified as a Young French Artist

[Lowell]

Update Sept. 3 2014: Three charged in fatal Detroit shooting of French street artist Bilal Berreni.

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This is so sad. The body of a young victim that had laid unidentified in the Wayne County morgue for months has been identified as 23 year French artist Bilal Berreni. His body had been found shot in the face in a Brewster project building on July 29, 2014.

What struck me about this sad tragedy was how interesting, intellectual and energetic he was with an amazing spirit of adventure that may have led to his demise.

Does anyone recognize him?



Pictures and following quotes from Free Press Article.

Mourad Berreni, Bilal’s father, said his son created artwork with social messages. He said Bilal was drawn to Detroit.

“From what I understand, he was interested in what can be born out of chaos,” Mourad Berreni, speaking in French, said through a translator Thursday from Paris. “For him, it represented the failure of capitalism and believed that from that chaos something can be born.”

“He was an enlightened being, pure, who did not make any concession with society,” Mourad Berreni said. “He felt that he had to say what he believed.”

Mourad Berreni said his son was an intellectual and nonconformist.

“One day, I saw him drawing in Paris. He said, ‘Look, Daddy,’ and he remained silent,” he said. “He was painting a bunch of guys typing on computers all connected one to another to say that they are all dependent, an absurd society. That was Bilal.”

Bilal Berreni decided to go abroad to Tunisia after the brief uprising ended there in 2011.

He told his parents: “I am going to smell the wind of revolution,” his father said.

While there, Berreni painted the images of people who died fighting government troops and displayed them outside in the streets. From there, he went to a refugee camp on the Libyan border. He not only drew pictures of the refugees, he also taught them to draw.

Le Monde magazine wrote about Berreni’s work in 2011. Eventually, Berreni traveled to the U.S.

Mourad Berreni said people will remember his son’s short but bright presence.

“He might not have been born at the right time,” he said of Bilal, who he said may have belonged “in a past century. He needed to discover the world and its truths; discover these things that give meaning to the world.

“He was like that. No concessions.”

Anyone with information about Bilal Berreni or his death is asked to call the Detroit homicide section at 313-596-1616.

RIP Bilal, sorry your bright light was extinguished here, and my sympathies to your family and friends for their loss.

[Honky Tonk]

This is so sad. The body of a young victim that had laid unidentified in the Wayne County morgue for months has been identified as 23 year French artist Bilal Berreni. His body had been found shot in the face in a Brewster project building on July 29, 2014.

What struck me about this sad tragedy was how interesting, intellectual and energetic he was with an amazing spirit of adventure that may have led to his demise.

The story is tragic indeed. What was he doing @ the Brewsters?

[Detroitnerd]

The story is tragic indeed. What was he doing @ the Brewsters?

Well, ever since they've been slated for demolition, they've become a popular canvas for street art. My best guess is he encountered scrappers. I figure scrappers would "defend" their prize with deadly force if necessary. I've heard about some really organized teams of scrappers not being shy of pointing a gun at somebody who's poking around their "work."

Of course, it's all conjecture. The only certainty is that this is really sad. I feel worst of all for the guy's dad, who must read the awful comments posted by some of the less sensitive readers of this story.

[jt1]

I agree that anyone that dies early is tragic but he was also found in a vacant place known for squatters, drugs and graffitti.

Is it any more tragic that the hundreds of people that die in the city every year due to violence? Does that make it any less tragic? Somehow this is cover story worthy while the rest of the young murder victims in the city remain nameless and faceless or, at most, get a little blurb tucked away in the paper.

I know I likely come off as an uncaring ass but dead dogs in a park is deemed tragic, a kid found in a very dangerous location is seen as tragic but the deaths of the residents of Detroit is all too often a punch line.

Let's have equal concern and sympathy for the kids that live here and deal with tragedy on a daily basis.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Jt1, I agree. This is a personal tragedy for his friends and family. It is not a particularly notable or sad death beyond that, though. And people who frequent places frequented by hardcore drug users [[whether or not they are druggies themselves) put themselves in real danger. I hope he rests in peace.

[Lowell]

Is it any more tragic that the hundreds of people that die in the city every year due to violence? Does that make it any less tragic? Somehow this is cover story worthy while the rest of the young murder victims in the city remain nameless and faceless or, at most, get a little blurb tucked away in the paper.

Let's have equal concern and sympathy for the kids that live here and deal with tragedy on a daily basis.

From what I read this kid had a lot to offer the world, so that makes his story compelling but at the core it is no less tragic than others who may have had little to offer the world but more crime and misery. But who knows their circumstances, the injustices that led them down a wrong path and what their future would have held? It's all so sad.

Until identified Bilal was little different and as you say, "...nameless and faceless or, at most, get a little blurb tucked away in the paper". I didn't even see that blurb.

[Danny]

My first guess, A black male wearing a Trayvon Martin hoodie looking for some to rob. The French artist could be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

[canuck]

This is the kind of story where you wish that the young man had got out alive to tell how rough Detroit streets are, not die face down in the dirt. Awful.

[nick1894]

A thanks to the DPD officer who was observant enough to see tht the victim had a foreign brand of footwear. Identification was made through diligent investigation.

[adamjab19]

I'm curious. In the article it says this kids alias was zoo project. What words had been written on the side of the projects? Wasn't one set of the words Zoo? I'm trying to picture it the graffiti on the building but am having trouble.

[iheartthed]

From what I read this kid had a lot to offer the world, so that makes his story compelling but at the core it is no less tragic than others who may have had little to offer the world but more crime and misery. But who knows their circumstances, the injustices that led them down a wrong path and what their future would have held? It's all so sad.

Until identified Bilal was little different and as you say, "...nameless and faceless or, at most, get a little blurb tucked away in the paper". I didn't even see that blurb.

I doubt it would've gotten the front page billing in the Free Press that it did if he were a Detroiter. But that's because it's an extraordinary story. Visitors to Detroit, even despite its reputation for violence, don't usually end up dead, and most certainly don't end up laying anonymously in a morgue for a year. Let's not lose sight of that.

[Lowell]

There appears to be a break-through in this case.

Three people have been charged in fatal Detroit shooting of French street artist Bilal Berreni.

It will be interesting to hear what evidence has been gathered and how they were tracked down. It seem almost unsolvable on the face of it.

Article at MLive

[RaumVogel]

Also in SF bee: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/03/667...of-french.html

[bailey]

There appears to be a break-through in this case.

Three people have been charged in fatal Detroit shooting of French street artist Bilal Berreni.

It will be interesting to hear what evidence has been gathered and how they were tracked down. It seem almost unsolvable on the face of it.

Article at MLive

I'd imagine if one wants to gain street cred, one needs to spread the word about how they capped some white guy they came across in the projects that one time.

Depressing to see the ages. This happened last year....so these guys were 13 [[not yet charged), 16, 17 & 19 when they thrill killed a 23 yr old.

[Hypestyles]

horrible.. whether it's resident on resident, or resident on visitor.. where do most kids go to school who are growing up in the Brewster homes?

[Danny]

Three or four poor miserable welfare and food stamp marginalized black males wearing Trayvon Martins thrill kill a French artist out of ignorance. They knew they would go the jail for the rest of the lives. They think that living a life of criminal will make them invincible! They dead wrong! I can see black males or females in Detroit or anywhere in America are losing their civil rights because they can't leave their 'slave mind' mentality. They want to free lunch and free money. It doesn't work like that in this free country.

This action will spook white folks and other ethnic folks in America to practice invisible segregation. That is why more black folks are getting busted just by crossing the street to white territory that they don't belong. Look what happen to Renisha McBride and Michael Brown. And soon another African American will be either in the life of crime or be victimized.

Malcolm X once said, 'There's three things black folks are afraid of: a job, a bust and a jail!' And its happening right now.

[Lowell]

Good and interesting details here from Alan Lengel of DeadlineDetroit.com.

Four people charged in the 2013 murder of young French street artist Bilal Berreni are suspected of being part of a violent gang that robbed tourists, artists, photographers, Wayne State University students and others who came to view the ruins around the Brewster-Douglass housing project on the city’s east side, sources familiar with the case say.

The gang, which goes by the name YBN [[Young Brewster Niggas), is comprised of many youths whose parents lived in the old Brewster-Douglass project before it was closed, one source said. The suspects now live around Trumbull near Wayne State University.

[Danny]

Mr. Boileau, If the black males are in the YBN clique and tied to the shooting of Bilal Berreni, A Rico act might be enforce to round up the gang. But they hard to capture since most of them playing hide and seek.

[night-timer]

Trumbull, near Wayne State University? Trumbull is in Midtown, if I'm not mistaken. I should know, coz I lived on Trumbull, but only for a couple of days.

[[I lived over the road from the Trumbull-Plex building, whose hipster residents have recently renamed it 'crumble plex'.)

Anyway, I always said that area wasn't the best, but no-one seemed to agree.

I still think there are dangers and risks in the Cass Corridor, Third Avenue, Grand River, etc.

In regards to Bilal, I heard he was a frequent visitor to the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects, but on the occasion when he was killed, he went there, alone, at night. Can anyone confirm?

His father has a FaceBook page that can be easily tracked down if you wish to speak to him.

[Lowell]

Here is a touching Freep video piece from June with interviews with those who lived with and sheltered Bilal [or Billy as he as known] during his Detroit wanderings.

Writing, wandering filled slain French artist's last days in Detroit

[Honky Tonk]

Here is a touching Freep video piece from June with interviews with those who lived with and sheltered Bilal [or Billy as he as known] during his Detroit wanderings.

Writing, wandering filled slain French artist's last days in Detroit

Excellent tribute.

[RickBeall]

He came all this way to graffitti our streets and something awful like this happened to him. Oh my gosh.

[rex]

What makes this different is that he was different, something of a modern day dharma bum that was drawn to Detroit for what it is. Not a drug dealer vying for turf or trying to be rid of his competition. He exposed himself to considerable danger it would seem. Sleeping in the abandoned Brewster towers? No good could every possibly come of that. Sorta surprised at his naivety TBH. He spent time in what? North African refugee camps? I suppose Detroit is a different type of dangerous. Ive experienced plenty enough to know better than running around the Brewsters at night... Abandoned or otherwise. I understand this is a pro Detroit forum and I treat it as such. Try to at least but ive had enough run ins with guys similar to his assailants that my rose colored lenses are lost. Hopped off the bus in supposedly decent areas and been chased by groups of 4 or 5 just on sight more than once. It was like it was a preconceived notion. Good thing im fast.

[rex]

He came all this way to graffitti our streets and something awful like this happened to him. Oh my gosh.

you seem reasonable. Probably fun to be around taboot

[hybridy]

jeez look at the suspect's eyes in their mugshots. just a dead, hopeless look. what the f*ck is wrong with these people? all over a couple of bucks and a stupid camera. rotten to the core to shoot somebody and then thrown them out of a building.