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Cleveland Smelley, 30, suspect in Wednesday shooting (Fox 2 photo)
Update: Thursday, 3:34 p.m. -- Cleveland Smelley, the suspect in the Wednesday night shooting of 2-year-old Makanzee Oldham, was arrested Thursday at a motel around 8 Mile and Greenfield in Oak Park, the Detroit News reports. The girl, who was shot in the head, is still clinging to life.
"We had gotten a tip last night that he might be here," Detroit Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt said according to the News. Plainclothes officers then set up an overnight surveillance at the hotel and arrested him on Thursday, the News reports.
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Report From Wednesday Night
If it seems like a lot of young Detroit children are getting shot these days it's because they are. Some kids are shooting themselves with loaded guns found inside homes, and others are being shot by crazed, irresponsible adults, who often open fire, trying to shoot other adults. In many instances, the kids are 6 years of age or younger.
Either way, it's happening far too often, and it's being met with some, but overall, far too little community outrage.
"We can't police stupid. It's not against the law to be stupid. When you pull out a gun and there's kids in the area, common sense should tell you not to do it," frustrated Assistant Detroit Police Chief Steve Dolunt said in a report by Fox 2's Dave Spencer.
In the latest incident, a 2-year-old girl was in critical condition Wednesday night after being shot in the head on Detroit's east side after her father got into a squabble with a man, Fox 2 reports.
Police say the 2-year-old girl was shot in the 16400 block of Fairmount Wednesday night just after 8 p.m.
The girl was sitting in the car with her father outside of the house when her dad and the suspect got into a fight, Fox 2's Spencer reports. The suspect left and returned with a gun and opened fire, hitting the girl in the head.
Police were searching for the suspect, Cleveland Smelley, 30.
The shooting comes on the same day that Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office announced charges in three separate cases involving the shooting of children.
In one case, Diallo Davis, 23, became the fourth person charged in the fatal shooting of a three-year-old girl on March 27. One of the four defendants was recently found dead in his jail cell.
Authorities charged that the four suspects went to a home in the 16800 block of Riverview and fired shots that killed three-year- old Aniya Montgomery. Two men inside the home, 39 and 26, were shot and wounded.
In another case, charges were filed against grandparents, both 65, in the May 11 shooting death of their 5-year-old granddaughter they were babysitting for at their Detroit home. The girl found a gun under a pillow and shot herself in the neck.
Frederick Davis and wife and Patricia D. McNeal face charges of involuntary manslaughter, three counts each of child abuse second degree and one count each of felony firearm. Davis was also charged with felon in possession of a firearm.
In another case, charges were filed against great grandparent Joseph Williams, 80, and Andrea L. Drewery, 30, the mother of a 4-year-old boy, who was shot and wounded in an unrelated incident last Nov. 11 in the 14000 block of Terry Street in Detroit. In that case, the child found a loaded gun in the home and shot himself in the hand.
