3-Year-Old Boy Shot In Face, Dies; Mom's Boyfriend In Custody

DETROIT, MI – A 3-year-old boy is dead from a gunshot wound to the face and the boyfriend of the child's mother is in custody, according to police. Detroit police confirmed this morning that Demetrius Lorenzo Peels, 22, turned himself in to police.

Peels, who police on Wednesday called a "person of interest" in the shooting of the boy, was being held in the Detroit Detention Center. Police Assistant Chief Arnold Williams, in a press conference late Wednesday, said that the boyfriend, Peels, was in the apartment when the shooting occurred, but left before officers arrived.

The shooting took place at about 7 p.m. Wednesday in an apartment in the 11700-block of Rossiter Street. An ambulance squad, which had been on another call was outside the home, when a man ran outside the apartment with the boy in his arms. Rescue crews took the child to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police responded and talked to the boy's mother, who said there was a shooting outside of the home, Williams said. Police, however, do not believe that was the case.

"Nothing that the mother said was confirmed by the evidence that we have at the scene," Williams said. Asked by reporters whether the boy may have accidentally shot himself, Williams said that police are not sure what led to the shooting or how it happened. There were no guns found in the apartment after the incident, police said.

"We don't know what happened inside the home," Williams said. "But what we do know is that what happened, happened inside the home."

Williams said that he hopes Peels can fill in some details about what happened in the home. "He knows what happened," Williams said.

Peels has criminal record that includes breaking and entering, Williams said.

As of Thursday morning, no charges had been filed in the shooting.

Image via Detroit Police