Girl, 7, Shot Dead by Detroit Cops

Aiyana Jones killed in search for homicide suspect
By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff
Posted May 17, 2010 2:54 AM CDT
Girl, 7, Shot Dead by Detroit Cops
Aiyana Jones, 7, was shot and killed yesterday when a police officer's guyn accidentally discharged.   (AP Photo/Family Photo via The The Detroit News)

In what a police spokesman called every parent's—and police officer's—nightmare, Detroit cops accidentally shot to death a 7-year-old girl yesterday in the midst of a hunt for a homicide suspect. Aiyana Jones was sleeping on a couch when police threw a flash grenade through a front window of her home that landed on the girl, burning her. An officer then stormed into the house, wrestled with Aiyana's grandmother, and his gun went off, killing the girl.

Police had a warrant to search the house and later found the suspect, the fiance of Aiyana's aunt. Neighbors said they warned police there were children in the house and pointed out toys in the yard. Police now fear anger over the shooting will erupt in riots in the streets, they told the Detroit News.The shooting is the latest evidence that violence is spiraling out of control in the city, the Detroit Free Press reports.
(More Detroit stories.)

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