Detroit News this Past Week

A volunteer high school football coach faces 17 counts in the shooting of a woman and her 7-year-old daughter, and an Oak Park man is charged in the drive-by that killed 16-year-old Kaliyah Embery. A federal jury ordered broadcaster Kevin Adell to pay $62.2 million in a race discrimination case, and a police commissioner says the board's investigators lost direct access to body-camera footage. Comments are open below.

The Weather: A Dry Week, Warming into the Mid-60s

No rain is forecast on any day this week. Sunday, Oct. 18, is the coolest, clear with a high of 62° after a low of 36°. Monday, Oct. 19, stays clear at 65°, and highs hold between 65° and 67° from Tuesday, Oct. 20, through Saturday, Oct. 24, mostly under overcast skies. Friday, Oct. 23, brings the mildest night, 56°.

The News

Charges filed in shootings that hit a 7-year-old and killed a teen

Aaron Wright, 32, of Detroit, a volunteer assistant football coach at a Detroit high school, faces 17 counts, including two of assault with intent to murder, after allegedly shooting a woman and her 7-year-old daughter Oct. 12, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said. The prosecutor's office gives the woman's age as 33; Detroit police said Oct. 13 she was 29, ClickOnDetroit/WDIV Local 4 and FOX 2 Detroit reported. Wright argued with the woman on her front porch over a fight between children, then forced his way into her home and fired when she tried to close the door, the prosecutor's office said. The shooting was at an apartment complex on Farnsworth near Gratiot and Van Dyke, ClickOnDetroit/WDIV Local 4 reported; FOX 2 Detroit gives the street as Farmsworth.

The woman was shot in the arm. The prosecutor's office says her daughter was shot in the chest, FOX 2 Detroit and Deadline Detroit reported; Police Chief Todd Bettison said Oct. 13 that the bullet went through the woman's arm and hit the girl in the shoulder, WDIV and FOX 2 reported. WDIV says both are expected to be okay. Wright was arrested Oct. 13; FOX 2 says he turned himself in, and WDIV says the arrest followed further investigation. At his Oct. 15 arraignment he was given a $250,000 bond with a GPS tether and a 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew, and he returns to court Monday, Oct. 19, for a bond redetermination hearing, WDIV reported. DPSCD, where he volunteered but was not an employee, has dismissed him, FOX 2 reported.

“This is beyond outrageous. When in the world did it become okay for an adult to introduce a firearm into an argument between two young children?” Worthy said.

Jarek Sneed of Oak Park was denied bond after being charged in the Oct. 13 shooting death of 16-year-old Kaliyah Embery and the non-fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man, FOX 2 Detroit reported Oct. 17. (That report spells her first name Kalyah; FOX 2's Oct. 15 report spells it Kaliyah.) The girl was killed when a passing vehicle opened fire on a Jeep Grand Cherokee in the 4700 block of Chalmers shortly before 7 p.m., Police Chief Todd Bettison said, as The Detroit News and ClickOnDetroit/WDIV Local 4 reported. Her family told FOX 2 the 19-year-old wounded was her brother.

Source: FOX 2 Detroit, October 15 and 17, 2026; Wayne County Prosecutor's Office; ClickOnDetroit / WDIV Local 4

Jury orders broadcaster Kevin Adell to pay $62.2M in race case

A federal jury ordered Detroit media executive Kevin Adell to pay $62.2 million to Bishop George Bloomer, a Black pastor formerly employed by Adell's religious broadcaster, The Word Network, ClickOnDetroit/WDIV Local 4 reported. Bloomer's 2022 lawsuit alleges that his 2019 firing was the culmination of a “racially discriminatory, harassing, and retaliatory hostile work environment” that began when Adell texted him a doctored meme depicting Adell as a “pimp” in front of four Black clergy members, Bloomer among them.

Source: ClickOnDetroit / WDIV Local 4, October 15, 2026

RenCen redevelopment seeks $550M in subsidies amid affordable-housing talks

Bedrock and General Motors' proposed $2.2 billion redevelopment of the Renaissance Center, with 934 apartments and renovated office space in the 200 Tower, is seeking nearly $550 million in taxpayer subsidies, The Detroit News reported. At an Oct. 13 community meeting, Bedrock pledged 20% of the apartments, or 187, at a 40% discount: about $1,080 a month for a one-bedroom and $1,260 for a two-bedroom, based on its estimate of downtown median rents.

The developers turned down the project's Neighborhood Advisory Council's requests for cheaper units, a $5 million rent stabilization fund and a $5 million down-payment fund. Bedrock's Jake Chidester said a rent stabilization fund could backfire by raising rents downtown; Justin Bahri said Bedrock will make "a significant monetary commitment" to affordable housing in coordination with Mayor Mary Sheffield. Negotiations continue Tuesday, Oct. 20.

Source: The Detroit News, October 14, 2026

Police commissioner says investigators lost body-camera access

The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners' Office of the Chief Investigator lost direct access to police body-camera footage in May, Commissioner Victoria Camille told ClickOnDetroit/WDIV Local 4. In recent weeks, she said, the investigator has faced delays, received incorrect portions of footage or footage that was blurred. “It's important for the integrity of our process and for the trust of the community that our investigators can investigate their complaints confidentially,” Camille said.

The Detroit Police Department said the FBI, as administrator of Criminal Justice Information Services, told the department and the board that the board's office could no longer access databases containing CJIS information. The FBI told WDIV the matter falls outside the scope of its CJIS Division, and Michigan State Police said it has no authority over how agencies grant access to body-camera footage.

Source: ClickOnDetroit / WDIV Local 4, October 16, 2026

Family files $150M suit over bailiff shooting of Sherman Butler

The family of Sherman Butler, who was shot and killed by a bailiff during a July 2024 eviction at a Palmer Park apartment, filed a $150 million federal lawsuit, FOX 2 Detroit and ClickOnDetroit/WDIV Local 4 reported. Butler, 44, was in what the family's attorneys describe as a mental-health crisis and held a box cutter to his neck; the suit says officers forced entry before a crisis team arrived. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office has said the bailiff acted in self-defense; the family's attorneys dispute that.

Source: FOX 2 Detroit; ClickOnDetroit / WDIV Local 4, October 13, 2026

31 candidates on the ballot for Detroit school board seats

Five of the seven seats on the Detroit Public Schools Community District board are on the Tuesday, Nov. 3, ballot, which lists 31 candidates for four full four-year terms and three for a partial term ending in 2028, ClickOnDetroit/WDIV Local 4 reported; some listed candidates have since dropped out. Board Vice President Bishop Corletta Vaughn, on the board since 2019, is not seeking another term.

Source: ClickOnDetroit / WDIV Local 4, October 13, 2026

Grannies Pound Cake lands a shop and Meijer shelf space

Patrice Davis, a retired Detroit Public Schools special-education teacher, runs Grannies Pound Cake at 14015 W. Eight Mile Road, and her cakes are also sold at Meijer, she told Detroit Community Thrive in written answers. The bakery's website lists three flavors: butter classic, butter lemon and butter pecan. She said getting on the shelves was easier than keeping cakes moving off them.

Source: Detroit Community Thrive, October 14, 2026; granniespoundcake.com

Also this week

A student was arrested and expelled after assaulting and hospitalizing a special education teacher at Emerson Elementary-Middle School Wednesday, Oct. 14; the teacher is recovering at home, the district told ClickOnDetroit/WDIV Local 4.

Tenant Allanah Morales sued RCA VG LLC, the parent company of the Millie on Brush apartments downtown, in Wayne County Circuit Court Oct. 2 over rats, roaches, mold and security problems, ClickOnDetroit/WDIV Local 4 reported.

U-D Jesuit bought part of the former State Fairgrounds, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Source: ClickOnDetroit / WDIV Local 4, October 14-16, 2026; Detroit Free Press, October 16, 2026

What's next

Aaron Wright returns to court Monday, Oct. 19, for a bond redetermination hearing. RenCen developers and the Neighborhood Advisory Council resume negotiations Tuesday, Oct. 20. Election Day, with five Detroit school board seats on the ballot, is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Source: ClickOnDetroit / WDIV Local 4; The Detroit News

Metro Detroit

Van Buren Township approves Google data center site plan

The Van Buren Township Planning Commission voted 5-1 at its Wednesday, Oct. 14, meeting to approve the site plan for a Google data center near Interstate 94, The Detroit News reported. The approval lets the developer, Panattoni, move ahead with utility installation and site work, said Ron Akers, the township's director of municipal services.

The project, dubbed Project Cannoli, covers 282 acres east of Haggerty Road and north of the I-94 North Service Drive. It is projected to use between 2 million and 3.6 million gallons of water a day and 1 gigawatt of power, and comprises five buildings, three of them data processing buildings, according to township planning documents. It will employ 50 to 200 people, said Panattoni partner Adam Kramer, who said the company hopes to break ground before the end of 2026. The commission gave preliminary site plan approval in February.

Residents spoke against the project, citing property values, noise, utility use and dust from work already under way at the site. A consulting engineer said the data center's water use will not draw from the township's system.

Source: The Detroit News, October 15, 2026

Comments are open below.