Gina Damron, and Tresa Baldas

Detroit Free Press

Detroit police are searching for a gunman who shot to death a father in front of his son's elementary school in southwest Detroit Wednesday morning after the boy had been dropped off for class.

The victim has been identified as 28-year-old Detroit resident Keenan Beard, Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office spokesman Lloyd Jackson said.

According to police, the father was shot inside of his vehicle shortly after dropping his son off at Mark Twain Elementary School to start his school day. The boy was inside the school building when his father was killed, police said.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said police have reason to believe the man and killer were acquainted. He said the gunman, who left the vehicle and fled the scene, is described as being 5 feet 8 inches tall, about 180 pounds.

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"It’s very disturbing," 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."

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 an ambulance arrived. The school is located on Visger, just north of West Fort, just blocks from the city's border with Lincoln Park..

"I just can't believe that someone would do this at a school, where there's plenty of kids," she said, adding that the suspect "may have shot the bullet and it could have went somewhere else."

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," Lee said. She later noted: "I see the dad every day, dropping his son off at school."