A two-year-old watching fireworks was shot by a stray bullet following a clash among juveniles in an eastside Detroit park on Saturday night, Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison told members of the media in a livestreamed press conference.
The toddler sustained minimal injuries and will survive, Bettison said. He said that during “some type of altercation” among juveniles a block away at a park July 5, shots were fired and struck the toddler.
Saying he was “appalled” and “upset” by the incident, Bettison pledged to step up its enforcement of the city’s curfew. The curfew prohibits children aged 15 and under to be out without an adult between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and prohibits teens ages 16 and 17 to be out unsupervised from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
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“Just the fact that we have a lot of unsupervised juveniles at a park, and understand that it’s the holiday weekend, understand that folks are watching fireworks, but at the same time parents still have the responsibility to know where their children are and that they are supervised,” he said.
Bettison said the department has detained two persons of interests in the incident, though details were still preliminary at the time of the news conference.
Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2-year-old hit by stray bullet Saturday night while watching fireworks