Police: Suspect in 4 slaying kills self in Ohio

Police are trying to determine what motivated a 27-year-old man to kill four people, including the mother of his child, in Detroit on Monday then flee to Ohio, where police engaged him in a high-speed chase before he fatally shot himself at a Toledo-area truck stop.

The bloodshed began with a triple homicide at 8:40 a.m. at a Sunoco gas station in the 2200 block of Fenkell on Detroit’s west side, when George Anthony Davis, 27, began arguing with the occupants of a silver Dodge Journey, said Detroit police Cmdr. Jacqueline Pritchett of the 8th Precinct.

“The (suspect) went over to the Dodge and he and a passenger engaged in conversation,” Pritchett said. “The suspect pulled out a handgun and began firing into the vehicle. Then he shoots the man who was pumping gas into the Dodge.”

Detroit police Chief James Craig added: “It appears he went back to his car, reloaded, and shot them again to make sure they were dead.”

Pritchett said investigators believe those victims included the mother of Davis’ child, a neighbor she was driving to work and a local church deacon, who was pumping the gas.

Pritchett said the suspect shot the three at the gas station, fled to a family member’s home on the 15100 block of Faust Avenue, where he then fatally shot his adult male cousin.

The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victims as Ja-Mon Thomas, 22, Raphael Hall, 60, Cierra Bargainer, 24, and Kristin Thomas, 21.

Hall was a deacon at Citadel of Praise Church. A woman who answered the church phone Monday declined to comment.

Craig said he was checking into whether Davis suffered from mental illness.

After Monday morning’s violence, police alerted the public to be on the lookout for Davis, who had carjacked a blue Nissan Altima. Davis headed south to Ohio, where local police began chasing him.

At 1:44 p.m., Toledo police tweeted: “Be advised, multiple law enforcement agencies are involved in a high speed pursuit with a murder suspect out of Detroit, MI. Be careful in the I-280/ I-75, east side area.”

At 1:52 p.m., Toledo police added: “The pursuit has ended outside of the City of Toledo. No threat to the public.”

Detroit police officials confirmed Davis shot himself in a truck stop and was transported to a hospital, where he died.

Davis, who was recently paroled and a new father, had been in contact with his mother, who told him to turn himself in, police said.

Davis, who had a tattoo on his left forearm bearing the message “Father forgive me,” had a 2008 conviction for second-degree home invasion, a 2008 conviction for carrying a concealed weapon, and a 2011 conviction for receiving and concealing a stolen car. He was paroled in 2016, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections. 

“His active sentence began in 2008,” MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz said in an email. “He was paroled in 2009 but did not do well on parole, and we returned him to prison in 2012. We then paroled him in 2016.”

Police are reviewing the gas station’s video security system footage. 

Pritchett said the gas station does not participate in the city’s Project Green Light security program, in which businesses pay a monthly fee to have high-definition surveillance footage monitored by police in real time.

cramirez@detroitnews.com 

 

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Student shot three times in Florida massacre ‘grateful to be here’

A student who was shot at least three times in the Florida school massacre on Monday said she’s “so grateful to be here” – and thanked her medical team for saving her life, according to reports.

Junior Madeleine Wilford, 17, was unresponsive when she was rushed to Broward Health North Medical Center with wounds to her chest and abdomen.

“I’m just glad that I’m making a full recovery and everything’s been going so smoothly,” a smiling but tearful Wilford said as she sat near her parents at the hospital, ABC News reported.

Maddy thanked the first responders and “amazing doctors” who helped save her, as well as those who sent her letters and presents.

“I’d just like to say that I am so grateful to be here. And it wouldn’t be possible without the doctors and first responders and … all the love that everyone sent, I definitely wouldn’t be here without it,” she said.

“I’ve seen a lot of positive posts about what’s been going on at the school. I just love the fact we’re sticking together,” Wilford added about her classmates at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, where 17 people were gunned down Feb. 14.

Lt. Laz Ojeda of Coral Springs Fire Rescue was in the ambulance when Maddy was rushed to the hospital.

“At first, I thought Maddy was dead,” he said, adding that she showed signs of life when an officer shook her, USA Today reported. A Broward County sheriff’s deputy put a “chest seal” on her to stop the bleeding.

Ojeda said he was originally told to take her to Broward Health Medical Center, but decided to go to Broward Health North, which is much closer.

“I gave her a sternal rub and said, ‘How old are you,’” Ojeda said, Local 10 News reported. “She told me she was 17. The rest of the story is pretty simple. I’ve never seen so many doctors, so many staff in an ER … and we went back to work.”

Maddy underwent three surgeries before being released Thursday.

The teen’s father, David Wilford, called her survival a “miracle” and said through tears that he was “very grateful to be sitting here next to my daughter, alive and well today.”

Maddy’s mom, Missy Wilford, said her daughter is an inspiration to her for her determination to move forward, Local 10 reported.

“She knows who she is and she knows where she wants to go and what she wants in life, and that strength and power is what helps you heal,” she said. “It makes you want to get up. It makes you want to keep going.”

Maddy’s parents also expressed their sympathy for the families who lost a loved one or whose children were wounded in the bloodbath.

“For those of the moms who I have not been able to visit that their children passed, I love you (and) I’m here for you,” Missy Wilford said.

“Those who are left in the hospital, I will come and visit with you. We have had so many visitors. I just have to say it helped her mentality, it helped her heal,” she added.

A few days ago, President Trump’s campaign sent out an email with a photo showing him and first lady Melania Trump visiting Maddy in the hospital.

“The president has made his intent very clear, making our schools and our children safer will be their top priority,” the email said in part and included a link to donate to his campaign.

Maddy and her parents didn’t take any questions at the news conference Monday and didn’t comment on the email.

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