Police: High school fight led to Noel Night shooting in Detroit; suspect, 16, arrested

The Noel Night shooting that left four teens wounded stemmed from a previous argument between students at a high school football championship game, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Monday, announcing the arrest of a 16-year-old suspect.

"Two groups met up, there was some pushing and shoving and then some gunfire," Craig said at a press conference at police headquarters.

He said a police investigation found that the shooting, which occurred about 7:40 p.m. outside the rear entrance of the Detroit Institute of Arts, involved students from East English Village High School and related to a fight that had occurred previously at a championship football game at Ford Field. Area high school championship games were played Thanksgiving weekend.

Originally police reported three victims: two males, ages 14 and 15, and one 17-year-old female. However, a fourth victim — a 19-year-old male — was discovered Sunday. He had taken himself to the hospital.

Craig didn't give any further information on the suspect aside from his age.

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said it has received paperwork from police for a 16-year-old suspect. The office, however, will take a 5-day adjournment period — as allowed under law — before making any charging decisions, Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller wrote in a press release Monday.

At the press conference, Craig spoke at length about teen violence and safety, noting that when police arrived at the scene they saw "literally hundreds of unsupervised youth."

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"Is this unique to Detroit? No, it's not," he said. "When we have large numbers of youth gathered sometimes there are fights. Unfortunately in this incident there was a shooting."

While Noel Night, which has been going on for 45 years, has never had a curfew, Craig indicated that one may be considered in the future, as is done for the Detroit fireworks.

"Part of imposing a curfew is keeping young people safe. We've never done that but it may be a recommendation going forward," he said, later adding, "Adult supervision was lacking, to be candid."

Sue Mosey of Midtown Detroit Inc., the organizer of the Noel Night, said the board would discuss the future of the event when it meets in January.

"Our board will be considering whether or not it makes sense for us to do these sort of large-scale district-wide events, or maybe we take a different direction," said Mosey. "I have no idea at this point and there won't be any decision made before January,"

She noted that Noel Night had been running in Detroit without any serious incidents until Saturday.

"Obviously it was an unfortunate incident," she said, adding that at "large-scale, big public events there is always a risk."

All four victims are in stable condition, according to Detroit Police Sgt. Nicole Kirkwood.

After the shooting, streets near the DIA were blocked off and a police helicopter with a spotlight circled above the area; nearby Wayne State University's campus was put on a temporary lockdown.