], My baby, my baby, my baby. Three ISO members describe what happened when a neo-Nazi . (And that statistic is true; I checked.). What the hell you doing up here for? I saw him in the face of my sister, who died a violent death in a filthy section of Detroit a decade ago. He was formerly a reporter for The Detroit News. Weekley insisted he accidentally pulled the trigger during a struggle with Aiyana's grandmother. Why you looking at me? said Owens, getting off the moped. She later went to nursing school but got sidetracked by her own health problems. Whenever I see a person who died of violence or misadventure, I think about the dead man with the open eyes on the dirty floor of the liquor store. January 7, 2022 . One ran off. Aiyana Mo'Nay Stanley-Jones (July 20, 2002 - May 16, 2010) was a seven-year-old African-American girl from Detroit 's East Side who was shot in the neck and killed by police officer Joseph Weekley during a raid conducted by the Detroit Police Department's Special Response Team targeting a suspect in the apartment a . The city of Detroit has settled a lawsuit with the family of a girl shot and killed by a Detroit police officer nine years ago. . "[21][22], Mertilla Jones said she reached for her granddaughter when the grenade came through the window, not for the officer's gun, because the flash grenade had set the child on fire. The programs six-minute sizzle reel begins with Evans dressed in full battle gear in front of the shattered Michigan Central Rail Depot, cradling a semiautomatic rifle and declaring that he would do whatever it takes to take back the streets of Detroit. In this current era, what she calls her "most confident" yet, she's channeling none other than her go-getter Bel-Air character Hilary Banks . In October 2011, he was charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment with a gun. Police fired a flash grenade through the front window. You can blame it on the John Deere mechanical cotton-picker of 1950, which uprooted the sharecropper and sent him north looking for a livingwhere he found he was locked out of the factories by the unions. The mayors office is said to have a copy, as well as the Michigan State Police, who are now handling the investigation. Once at Aiyanas graveside, Charles Jones released a dove. His motive, authorities say, was that the teen failed to pay him the proper respect. Outside, three men were loading the boiler, tubs, and sinks into a trailer to take to the scrap yard. He said. Then they said he jumped out a back window. In Detroit, a new car costs more than the average house. The illiteracy, child poverty, and unemployment rates hover around 50 percent. Many are as fucked up and sad as Aiyanas. He computerized daily crime statistics, created a mobile strike force commanded by young and educated go-getters, and dispatched cops to crime hot spots. I think its abominable. Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley stands in judge Cynthia Hathaways courtroom in Detroit, in June 2013. Some people are doomed from birth because their environment is so toxic.. ", The mother of Jones' victim, Lyvonne Cargill, said: "I'm stressed thinking about that man coming home." She was seven years old. It also allowed a man to escape the smoldering city. Over 10 years ago, Detroit police executed a nighttime raid at a home on the city's east side in search of a murder suspect. [2], After a one-year internal and federal investigation, on October 4, 2011, a grand jury indicted Weekley on involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment with a gun. One year later, Aiyana Stanely Jones investigation mired in delays", "Homicide suspect hunted in raid that led to Aiyana's death is charged", "Man sentenced to life in prison for Detroit teen's death", "DPD officer involved in Aiyana Jones shooting identified", "Police, family look for answers in girl's death in Detroit", "How A Police Officer Shot A Sleeping 7-Year-Old To Death", "Detroit Police Officer Charged in Shooting Death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones", "Michigan Supreme Court Won't Hear Appeal in Weekley Case", "Slain girl's family alleges police cover-up", "Grandmother's fingerprints, DNA not found on Officer Weekley's submachine gun", "Officer whose bullet reportedly killed Aiyana Jones was frequently featured on A&E", "Mayor: Detroit doesn't know 'how to stop' killings", "Detroit police officer who shot 7-year-old returns to job after half decade on leave", "Joseph Weekley, Detroit Police Officer, Charged In Aiyana Stanley-Jones' Death During 'The First 48' Raid", "Cop Who Shot 7-Year-Old To Death Will Be Retried", "Second trial to begin today for officer in Aiyana's death", "A&E 'The First 48' producer who filmed Aiyana Jones shooting admits to obstructing justice", "Photographer pleads no contest to obstruction of justice in Aiyana Stanley-Jones case", "Videographer pleads in fatal Detroit police raid", "Videographer in fatal police raid gets probation", "Videographer in Aiyana Stanley-Jones raid gets 2 years of probation", "Judge declares mistrial in Aiyana case after jurors fail to reach verdict", "No more retrials, Aiyana's Family pleads", "In cop's retrial, attorneys at odds over how girl died", "Emotional 'show' put on by grandmother of slain 7-year-old Aiyana Jones not grounds for mistrial, judge says", "Detroit police officer back on trial accused of manslaughter in Aiyana Jones killing", "Mertilla Jones testified in Weekley case", "Weekley may seek retrial over tirade by witness", "Weekley prosecution nears its conclusion", "RAW VIDEO: Emotional outburst from grandmother of Aiyana Stanley-Jones halts Joseph Weekley retrial", "Grandmother to Detroit Police Officer Joseph Weekley: 'You killed my grandbaby', "Emotional outburst halts trial for Detroit officer in girl's death", "Officer Weekley trial halted until Monday after emotions run high - Fox 2 News Headlines", "Judge cites 'justice' in dropping charge against cop", "Surviving The Painful Funeral Of Aiyana Jones", "Lawsuit Alleges Police Cover-Up In Fatal Shooting Of Sleeping 7-Year-Old Aiyana Stanley-Jones", "Attorney files 2 lawsuits in death of Detroit girl", "Family of slain 7-year-old Aiyana Jones sues A&E for reality TV crew at Detroit police raid", "State to probe girl's slaying; lawyer disputes cops' account", "Fieger says police shooting no accident, he has proof", "Aiyana Jones case, attorney says Video shows police fired into Detroit home", "Cop in Aiyana Stanley-Jones shooting back on the job", "J. Cole dedicates video to dead 7-year-old girl", "J. Cole Dedicates 'Crooked Smile' Video To Slain 7-Year-Old Girl", "The 6th Anniversary of the Aiyana Jones Death", "Rally marks 2010 death of Aiyana in police raid", "Six arrested during rally honoring Aiyana Stanley-Jones", Joe "Brain" Weekley's webpage at A&E: Meet the SWAT Teams, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Killing_of_Aiyana_Jones&oldid=1139956467, This page was last edited on 17 February 2023, at 18:19. "I want to say to the entire Jones family, Aiyana's loved ones and friends, how terribly sorry I am for your loss. Blame the Federal Reserve. On 16 May 2010, Aiyana was shot dead by Weekley in the middle of the night, as she slept on a sofa inside her home on the east side of Detroit. So what? Fieger barked. At the center of this economic dynamo was Detroit. As officer Joseph Weekley walks free, another community is demanding answers about the increasing militarisation of law enforcement. It just goes on, she said. Her death drew national media attention and led U.S. Representative John Conyers to ask U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for a federal . Louis Miriani, the last Republican mayor of Detroit, who served from 1957 to 1962, was sent to federal prison for tax evasion when he couldnt explain how he made nearly a quarter of a million dollars on a reported salary of only $25,000. But in Evans defense, he seemed to understand one thing: After the collapse of the car industry and the implosion of the real estate bubble, there is little else Detroit has to export except its misery. I asked him if the way he was raising his daughter, the people he exposed her to, or the neighborhood where they livedwith its decaying houses and liquor storesmay have played a role. Sarah Cwiek joined Michigan Radio in October 2009. The fire department is little better. [32][33] Allison Howard was sentenced to two years of probation in July 2013, and fined $2,000. Now Detroit has fewer than 800,000 people, is 83 percent black, and is the only American city that has surpassed a million people and dipped back below that threshold. She looked at her barefoot grandson playing in the wreckage of the dwelling next door and wondered if he would make it to manhood. Gibson bonded out last January and actually showed up for his trial in circuit court on February 17. More than 4,000 people attended Officer Huffs funeral at the Greater Grace Temple on the citys Northwest Side. And TV may have needed some pyrotechnics. what happened to aiyana jones. IT MIGHT BE a stretch to see anything more than Detroits problems in Detroits problems. Soon, the Motor Citys population surpassed that of Boston and Baltimore, old East Coast port cities founded on maritime shipping when the world moved by boat. [58] Michigan State Police Detective Tawana Powell testified during the 2014 trial that the investigation discovered that the video Fieger was talking about did not exist. He didn't elaborate. But the real mystery behind Officer Huffs murder is why Gibson was out on the street in the first place. "Aiyana's death was a tragic loss for her family and has been a heavy burden on our community. He had been married eight years and had three daughters and a stepson. But McNeal messed upshe admits as much. Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation. By wit and will, he managed to make it through. Little Aiyana's death is heartbreaking! People involved. I saw him in the face of my sisters daughter, who died from a heroin overdose in a suburban basement near the interstate, weeks after I moved back to Michigan with my wife to raise our daughter and take a job with the Detroit News. By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from Mother Jones and our partners. Aiyana Jones settlement On April 4, Attorney Geoffrey Fieger announced that the City of Detroit had agreed to an $8.2 million settlement in the 2010 slaughter of Aiyana Jones, 7, by another joint task force incuding Detroit Police Officer Joseph Weekley during a military-style assault on her grandmother Mertilla Jones' home. I mean, hiring the Rosa Parks carriage?, I dont owe Sheffield shit, says Jones. On the morning of May 16, a Detroit police officer fatally shot 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones in the throat during a police raid on her home. You dont go into a home around midnight. If someone needs a scapegoat for what's happening here - and what's happening here is justice - then put it on me.". [2] Her death drew national media attention[3] and led U.S. Representative John Conyers to ask U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for a federal investigation into the incident. Its about state-sanctioned violence., US police departments are increasingly militarised, finds report, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. And there are. The environment got nothing to do with kids.. Sharptons people called JeReans mother, Lyvonne Cargill, promising to come over to her house after Aiyanas funeral. Even Time bought a house on the East Side last year for $99,000. Then Huff got killed. JeReans crime? [4], Officer Joseph Weekley was charged in connection with Jones' killing. But Officer Joseph Weekley accidentally shot Aiyana in the head, killing her. Owens didn't like the way the Southeastern High School teen had looked at him, according to court testimony. "We had to do it by paperwork, and they read the letters from my side of the family (during the parole hearing)," Cargill said. In Detroit, the official response time of an ambulance to a 911 call is 12 minutes. Weekley will not go to a third trial. If that isnt a record for any major metropolis, it is certainly a record for Detroit. [16], Aiyana Jones was the daughter of Charles Jones and Dominika Stanley. We believe some of them were struck by friendly fire, the high-ranking cop told me. Aiyana was killed when police raided a house to capture a murder suspect. [15], The building was a duplex; Owens's girlfriend LaKrysta Sanders lived in the upstairs apartment, while her mother and Aiyana Jones' grandmother, Mertilla Jones, lived in the downstairs apartment. / AP. The First 48 photographer Allison Howard was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice. There are some 10,000 unsolved homicides dating back to 1960. Nevertheless, Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans issued a statement May 18. It's us but for your ears. A spokesman for the A &E program "The First 48" tells ABC News they had a camera crew along with the Detroit police when Aiyanna Jones was shot and killed during the execution of a search warrant to find a man wanted in connection with a murder. On May 16, 2010, 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones was shot and killed in her sleep by Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley after he accidentally entered the wrong apartment in an unannounced SWAT team raid. Defense attorney Steve Fishman said prosecutors were courageous by closing the case. She thanked me for coming and showed me her home, which was clean and well kept. A wary Detroit police officer keeps watch over an unruly crowd after an arrest on the East Side.The judge, Cynthia Gray Hathaway, set his bond at $20,000only 10 percent of which was due upfrontand adjourned the trial without explanation, according to the docket. 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