Man shoots 2 women, 1 fatally, before suicide in Detroit

A man kicked down a door and entered a home on Detroit's west side early Monday morning, shooting his estranged girlfriend several times and killing the woman's friend, police say.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Michael Larkins, 37, shot Sherrol White then turned the gun on himself.

Craig said the man broke into the home in the 2600 block of Wreford, where the 28-year-old girlfriend was staying with a friend around 7 a.m. and shot her three times. She was able to leave the home with an 11-year-old girl and get to the hospital, where she was treated for the gunshot wounds. Craig said the man is the girl's father.

After that, Craig says, the man engaged the 26-year-old female friend, shooting and fatally wounding her.

The girlfriend and the suspect had a child in common, a 9-day-old girl, Craig said. The infant was safely removed from the home and treated for hypothermia. There had been a lot of "in and out" at the home, Craig said, which, combined with low temperatures and the baby's age, dropped her body temperature. Otherwise, she was uninjured.

The 11-year-old, who was not related to the girlfriend, was also uninjured, Craig said. Police believe the surviving victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

The girlfriend had taken out a personal protection order against the suspect, and Craig says police believe someone tipped him off about the location where she was staying.

The suspect had been at the home Sunday night creating a disturbance, Craig said.

"This started yesterday, but there were no calls to police," Craig said. "Had someone called us yesterday, maybe this could have been a different situation."

Craig said the suspect does have a criminal record, with charges for weapons, narcotics, assault with intent to murder and a number of other threats.

Police had originally determined the scene to be a barricaded gunman and possible "active shooter situation," Craig said. But when police entered the home, the suspect and the friend were already dead.

Craig warned of the dangers posed by domestic violence: "Sometimes, (domestic incidents) are the precursor to more violent acts."