Teenager attacked in Michigan’s worst mass shooting, in which two people died and 19 were injured

DETROIT – A teenager faces dozens of charges in connection with the July shooting at a party in Detroit that left two people dead and 19 others injured – making it the worst mass shooting in Michigan’s recent history.

Demitrus Tiwan Shaw, 19, was charged and arrested this week on two counts of first-degree murder, 19 counts of assault with intent to murder and 21 counts of possession of a firearm.

“The city is a lot safer with Mr. Shaw off the streets,” said Detroit’s interim police chief Todd Bettison during a press conference on January 10.

The Wayne County Attorney’s Office alleges Shaw fired a gun multiple times into a crowd at a summer party on July 7, 2024, killing a 20-year-old Harrison Township woman and a 21-year-old Detroit man. Surviving victims range in age from 16 to 24 years old.

Shaw was arrested on January 7 by Detroit police.

“It was something that affected all of us in Detroit,” Bettison said. “For the families of the victims, the two people who died and the 19 other people who were injured, it gives me great pleasure to provide some source of justice today.”

Bettison called it the “worst mass shooting” in Detroit and Michigan history.

There is no specific definition of a mass shooting, but The Gun Violence Archive, which has been tracking shootings since 2013, lists people with at least four deaths. Shooting at a party in Detroit tops Michigan’s list in the June 2023 shooting in Saginaw, in which two people died and 11 were injured.

The investigation into the Detroit shooting is still ongoing.

Detroit police executed 11 search warrants this week, recovering 21 firearms and drugs worth $584,000, according to Lt. Matthew Bray. These include fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. Bray said 10 other people were arrested in connection with the shooting and “numerous other crimes that were discovered” during the execution of the warrants.

“187 days have passed since the incident, and members of the Homicide Task Force and multiple agencies have worked tirelessly, losing time with family members, to bring about an arrest,” Bray said.

Shaw is being held on $1 million bail.