Boy, woman killed ‘execution style’; father found dead in burning car in Detroit
Authorities from two departments were searching for clues Thursday after the body of a woman and a 6-year-old boy she was caring for were found fatally shot in Warren.
The shocking discovery was made a few hours after the boy’s father was found dead earlier in the morning in a burned-out car in Detroit.
Few details were available by Thursday as police continued to work to determine what had happened.
The woman, believed to be in her 20s, and the little boy, whose name is Tairaz, were found shot “execution-style” in the basement of their home, according to WDIV-TV (Channel 4).
Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer said more details will be revealed at a news conference on Friday.
“As of now, we have two deceased victims in our city and one in Detroit,” Dwyer said Thursday afternoon. “But we have video to review, relatives of the deceased to notify and evidence to process. I don’t want to let information out piecemeal.”
It was not immediately known whether police were looking for whoever was responsible for the dual slaying, or if they suspected the boy’s father may have played a role in their deaths.
The tragic chain of events began about 4 a.m. Thursday as Detroit firefighters responded to reports of a car fire in the Hyde Park community, located near the Dequindre Cut on Detroit’s east side.
Fire crews found the body of the man inside of the vehicle. He is reported to be the little boy’s dad.
The car was registered to an address on Otis Avenue in Warren. Detroit police asked their counterparts in Warren to notify the family of the discovery of the man’s body and conduct a welfare check.
Warren officers then drove to the 2100 block of Otis, south of Nine Mile Road and east of Dequindre Road. When they arrived around 11 a.m., they discovered Tairaz and the woman dead in the basement.
The deceased woman was the girlfriend of the man whose body was located in the car, police said. She was caring for Tairaz while his dad was out.
A large crowd gathered on Otis as police kept the public and media about a block away from the home.
When Tairaz’s mother arrived at the scene with another woman, she became overcome with emotion, crying out: “Why did they kill my baby? Why did they kill my son?”
Investigators went doorto-door in the neighborhood to ask residents if they had observed anything suspicious. At least one resident provided doorbell video to police that may have footage of someone near the house overnight.
Relatives told reporters they believe the assailant is on the loose, but police did not confirm that.
The little boy’s aunt told reporters she and the boy’s mom were obviously devastated by the discovery.
“It’s too much,” the woman said, declining to identify herself. “All this killing has to stop.”
City assessing records show the 800-square-foot house is a rental owned by a Warren businessman.
The double homicide came one day after a 32-yearold man died after he was lured out of his house by a stranger and shot to death on the 21400 block of LaSalle Street near Toepfer Avenue, in the area of Eight Mile and Gratiot.