Teens injured in shooting

By Charles Sercombe
A fight among three teens in the Col. Hamtramck Housing project Monday night led to two of them being shot, police say.
A 15-year-old male suspect turned himself into police on Tuesday after his relatives tipped off investigators.
The shooting happened on Monday at about 8:30 p.m. at Circle Dr. and Dyar, where a 16-year-old male and 17-year old female were injured, police say.
One of the victims was grazed in the head and the other was wounded in the chest.
According to Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri, the two wounded teens got into a dispute with the suspect and beat him up. The suspect then returned and allegedly shot them.
The identities of the teens shot and the suspect have not been released, nor is it known if the suspect will eventually be charged as an adult.
The housing project, where over 300 people live, has been a constant source of trouble where there are weekly, and sometimes daily, reports of fights, assaults, break-ins, thefts and unwanted guests.
Hamtramck Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri said his department has been reaching out to residents there in an effort to improve the relationship with officers, and diffuse tensions.
“We have good relations with the community here, everyone here, from the elders, (to) the young,” he said in a press release. “We had a couple of events here. Just at this location we had a turkey giveaway, Christmas event, a coat drive. So everybody here is very supportive.
“It’s just unfortunate, this situation does not represent the entire community. But at the end of the day, we have to come together, police and community, to apprehend this individual and send a strong message of stop the violence, stop the cycle of violence.”
Chief Altaheri also credited this stronger relationship with the department for leading to tips identifying the shooter.
The last shooting at the projects happened in 2022, where a 25-year-old Hamtramck man and a 24-year-old Detroit woman were found dead from a shooting.
At the time, police were seeking two black male suspects who fled in a silver or gray newer-model Dodge Durango.
The case is still open and unresolved.
In another matter five years ago, a woman was arrested in connection with the stabbing death of a man, and the wounding of another man.
Those who knew of that incident at the time told The Review that the woman and men were outside of her apartment when an argument broke out at about 6 p.m.
Sources said the woman began swinging a kitchen knife, and may have accidentally stabbed her brother in the neck, resulting in him bleeding to death.
The housing project, which has 300 units, was built back in the 1940s. The units are reserved for low-income individuals and families, and the federal government subsidizes the rent for them, depending on their income.
Rents range from $276 – $515.
Hamtramck police had been providing extra patrols for the projects until several years ago, but federal funding for the extra patrols ran out.
Posted May 2, 2025