DETROIT—Detroit police are investigating the shooting death of a father who was executed in front of his son’s school in southwest Detroit Wednesday morning.

According to police, the man was shot in the head shortly after his son exited the vehicle and entered Mark Twain Elementary School. The boy did not witness the shooting.

According to police, a suspect was sitting in the rear passenger seat of the car that the victim and his child were in. The suspect exited the vehicle — a black Nissan — and fled the scene after the shooting.

The suspect is described as a black male, 5 feet 7 inches tall, in his 20s and about 180 pounds.

“It’s very disturbing,” Detroit Police Chief Craig said at a news conference outside the school this morning. “We are going to do everything we can. We’re confident that we’re going to bring some closure to this.”

Craig did not elaborate on a possible motive, but said police have a couple of witnesses. He said the child has a brother in the military.

One school parent, Latrice Lee, 22, said her 4-year-old son is in the same class as the victim’s child. She said she did not witness the shooting, but arrived at the school at about the same time the ambulance arrived.

“I just can’t believe that someone would do this at a school, where there’s plenty of kids. (He) may have shot the bullet and it may have gone somewhere else,” Lee said.

Lee said she arrived at the school at about 7:30 a.m. and decided to pull her son out of class after learning what had happened.

“I just wanted to get him out of school and go home,” said Lee, later noting: “I see the dad every day, dropping his son off at school in his mom’s truck.”