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Detroit Police Kill 7-Year-Old Girl in Her Own Home

HeadlineMay 17, 2010

In Detroit, a candlelight vigil was held last night following the death of a seven-year-old girl who was shot by police in her own home. The girl, Aiyana Jones, was sleeping when police raided her family’s home just after midnight on Sunday. Detroit police said an officer’s gun accidentally went off after the officer tussled with Aiyana’s grandmother. A bullet from the gun pierced Aiyana’s head and neck. The police raid began when police threw an incendiary device known as a flash-bang grenade through a front window of the home. The device reportedly burned the seven-year-old girl, who was sleeping on the couch. Police conducted the no-knock raid even despite warnings that children lived in the home. Police had been seeking a thirty-four-year-old murder suspect. Police say they got their man but have not said if he was arrested in the raid on the downstairs or upstairs apartment.

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