Details emerge in shooting death of woman seeking help

Elisha Anderson and Gina Damron | Detroit Free Press

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. -- It was shortly before 1 a.m. Nov. 2 and Renisha McBride was involved in an accident with a parked vehicle in Detroit.

More than two hours later and six blocks away, she was shot in the face by a man who told police he thought someone was breaking into his Dearborn Heights home. The 54-year-old homeowner, according to police, said his 12-gauge shotgun discharged accidentally.

What happened during the hours between the accident and McBride's death on the front porch of a home on West Outer Drive remains a mystery. New details surfaced in the controversial case Monday, raising more questions about the 19-year-old's death.

Her family has said they believe McBride, who is black, went up to the house seeking help after the accident and was racially profiled.

Dearborn Heights police, though, said last week that there is no indication that race had anything to do with the shooting. Their investigation into the shooting, which happened around 3:40 a.m., is continuing.

Just before 1 a.m. Nov. 2, police received a call about a no-injury accident at Bramell and Majestic on the city's west side. Detroit police spokesman Sgt. Michael Woody said the 911 caller said a woman had been speeding down the street, struck a parked car, got out of the vehicle and then left.

Police initially considered the incident a low priority, so no officers were immediately dispatched, he said.

Officers responded to the scene about 40 minutes later after they got a second call saying the woman had returned, but she was gone when police and EMS arrived.

A source familiar with the investigation said that the vehicle involved in the accident was a 2004 Ford Taurus registered to McBride's father. The vehicle suffered front-end damage and was towed.

An attorney representing McBride's family told the Free Press he heard that McBride was confused after the accident and repeatedly said she "wanted to go home."

"I received a phone call on Friday from a woman who said that she lived in the neighborhood and had heard the crash," attorney Gerald Thurswell said. "It was her understanding that after the crash, Renisha got out of the car, she was bleeding and that somebody called 911."

Thurswell said the woman did not give her name, but told him an investigator with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office was in the area on Friday talking to residents. He said he was told that McBride, saying she wanted to go home, started walking down the street and a neighbor tried to find her but wasn't successful.

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office declined to comment on whether the office is interviewing witnesses.

Wayne County prosecutors said in a statement Monday that they have begun the warrant review process and will release information when they determine if charges will be filed in the case.

"The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office is waiting for several items relating to the investigation from the Dearborn Heights Police Department at this time," the statement from spokeswoman Maria Miller said.

Meanwhile, civil rights leaders have called for a thorough investigation of the case.

McBride's death was ruled a homicide by the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office, which released her autopsy report Monday. According to the report, McBride was shot in the face, not the back of the head as her family initially had said.

"There was an entrance shotgun wound to the face, with no evidence of close-range discharge of a firearm noted on the skin surrounding this wound," according to the report.

As police investigate, McBride's loved ones are waiting for answers.

"We have to get all the facts," Thurswell said.