Police cleared of all charges in the fatal shooting death of Detroit Black man celebrating at his child’s baby shower

Michigan sheriff’s deputies involved in the shooting death of a Detroit man won’t face any charges after the incident left a 29-year old Black man dead.

Nov 29, 2018
Detroit police thegrio.com
City of Detroit Police vehicles are shown parked in front of their precinct.(Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Five Michigan sheriff’s deputies involved in the shooting death of a Detroit man who was attending a baby shower for his expectant girlfriend, won’t face charges in the fatal shooting, NBC News reports.

 Theoddeus Gray, 29 was shot and killed by the deputies in what was reported as a shootout on Nov. 4, according to Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham at a press conference on Wednesday about the findings of his agency’s investigation.

Gray, a Black man, was attending the baby shower at the St. Clair Shores banquet hall when he reportedly got into a confrontation with his girlfriend’s family. An employee of the establishment called the police. Details thereafter are sketchy, and while there are conflicting reports, it was reported that there was a man with a rifle on the scene.

It was said that Gray fired first, killing a police dog, then on Wednesday, Wickersham admitted they were unsure who killed the 4-year-old dog. He however contests that officers returned fire after Gray fired at them first.

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“If somebody is shooting at the police, you can expect that the police are going to fire back,” Wickersham said. 

A spokesman for the Gray family, Oliver Gantt, cast doubt on the police narrative.

“They claim they shot the young man because he shot the K-9 dog Axe,” Gantt said to NBC News. “Now they’re pivoting, saying he was not shooting at Axe.”

After the dog’s death, $15,000 was raised in his honor, something Gantt said is telling.

“They valued the dog’s life more than they valued this man’s life,” Gantt said.

Sheriff Wickersham said a fully loaded AK-47 was found at the banquet hall, but he stopped short of saying who it belonged to.

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According to 911 audio, Gray reportedly failed to heed officers’ commands and the venue’s surveillance footage reportedly shows him fleeing from the scene.

Gantt, however, noted that the video did not capture Gray holding a gun.

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