Details emerge on shooting of caregiver by elderly Garden City man

Omar Abdel-Baqui | Detroit Free Press

Using a double barrel shotgun, police say 75-year-old Phillip Demouy shot his caregiver, Angela Wiper, 42, and her uncle, Leonard Whitehead, 62, Sept. 17 at the elderly man’s longtime residence on the usually calm 180 block of Garden City’s Belton Street.

The 21st District Court has ordered Demouy to undergo a competency evaluation — his hearing and preliminary exam is scheduled for Nov. 25. Demouy is facing 12 charges, including multiple counts of assault with intent to murder, which, if convicted, can carry life in prison.

The day of the shooting, police found Wiper “screaming in pain” with a “clear shotgun wound to the stomach,” while Whitehead was shot in the chest/shoulder area, according to police reports.

The altercation that led to the shooting began when Demouy had an accident and defecated on the bed and floor, resulting in Wiper yelling, threatening to put Demouy in a senior living home, and hitting him, Demouy told police. He added that Wiper has assaulted him in the past.

Demouy then “became afraid” and grabbed his shotgun. “Once he had his shotgun Wiper might have come after him, so he shot her, because he was afraid of her,” according to a police report.

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Wiper underwent several surgeries, spent over a month in the hospital and is yet to provide police a formal statement as of Oct. 30, said Garden City police Detective Tom Pelaccio.

Whitehead, however, gave police a statement the day of the incident as he received treatment for his gunshot wounds.

Whitehead told police that he, Wiper and Demouy live at the home, and that Wiper is his and Demouy's legal guardian and caregiver.

Whitehead said he was cleaning the home on the morning of Sept. 17 because Demouy is a “hoarder," when Wiper went to help Demouy in his bedroom.

Demouy yelled that he was “tired” of Wiper and Whitehead, then shot Wiper, and when Whitehead entered the room to help Wiper, Demouy shot him, Whitehead told police. As Demouy tried to reload, Whitehead took the gun away from him.

Demouy apologized to Whitehead after shooting him, Whitehead told police.

“Whitehead did not know why Demouy began shooting,” according to a police report. "Whitehead stated that he never thought Demouy would do this and that he lost it this time."

Demouy said he was unaware he had even shot Whitehead, who he acknowledged was helping clean his home, according to a police report.

When police arrived and rescued the two gunshot victims, Demouy was still inside the home. The Western Wayne County Special Operations Team negotiated with Demouy to exit, which he did, using a walker.

Neighbors ‘stunned’ by violence

Neighbors are “stunned” by the recent violence taking place on their block, said a Belton Street resident. Months before September’s shooting, an off-duty Detroit police officer was shot and killed in a domestic incident just a few houses down from Demouy’s.

“This is a quiet block full of families and long-time, friendly residents,” said a Belton Street resident who requested anonymity.

The neighbor told the Free Press that Demouy was a hoarder who left his home condemned after inheriting it from his parents.

More: Off-duty Detroit officer shot and killed in Garden City home

He had trouble taking care of himself, and prior to allowing Wiper to be his caretaker, he let a woman he met at a local restaurant into his home to help around.

She didn’t, said several neighbors and a person close to the matter. Instead, she stole Demouy’s phone and money, used his address as a heroin pick-up spot and slept at the house.

“He was lonely, and so he let that woman in. And she ended up taking advantage of him,” said a neighbor.

That’s when Demouy approached Wiper, who worked at a restaurant Demouy frequented, and “begged” her to become his caregiver, which she agreed to, with the stipulation that the house would be bequeathed to her when Demouy died, according to a person close to the matter.

A neighbor told the Free Press that Demouy argued with Wiper and Whitehead multiple times "when they would throw out his junk.”

“The house’s condition definitely improved when the new caregivers came in,” the neighbor said. “When the heroin addict was living there, there were needles everywhere and constant drug deals happening in front of the house...We called the police and they wouldn’t do anything.”

Pelaccio, the Garden City police detective, said officers were dispatched to Belton Street several times for calls relating to Demouy's house before the new caregivers arrived.

“Neighbors had concerns about narcotics and that kind of activity, but we didn’t find anything,” he said.

It is unlikely anyone on Belton Street could have guessed what would transpire on the morning of Sept. 17, said a neighbor.

It is now up to the courts to decide if Demouy is criminally responsible for the alleged actions he is being charged for by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.

Contact Omar Abdel-Baqui: 313-222-2514 or oabdel-baqui@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarabdelb