Police say 2 women dead, man in custody after shooting at senior center in Detroit

10/21/2013

DETROIT — Two women were shot and killed Sunday at a senior center in Detroit and a third resident of the facility was taken into custody in an apparent domestic dispute, police said.

The shooting happened after the 65-year-old suspect had an argument with his girlfriend that led to the end of their relationship, police said in a news release. They said the man went to his apartment in the center during the evening hours, retrieved a rifle and started looking for two other residents.

Police said he found the first woman, a 54-year-old friend of the ex-girlfriend, and shot her once. They said he then found the second woman, a 65-year-old, and shot her multiple times.

The 54-year-old was pronounced dead at a hospital and the 65-year-old died at the scene. Police said neither was the ex-girlfriend. Their names were not immediately released.

A police spokeswoman did not immediately return a message to The Associated Press for comment.

The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press reported that the Pablo Davis Elder Living Center was evacuated and that officers moved residents to police buses to keep them warm.

The suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was taken into custody minutes after the shooting without further incident, police said in their release. Officers searched the building to make sure there were no other victims, according to the release.

“I didn’t see the rifle until he got right on top of us,” Paul Fratangelo, who said he witnessed the shooting, told The Detroit News. “I said ‘Oh, my God ...’ He said ‘Get on the ground and start praying.’

“It was the grace of God that he didn’t shoot me. I really thought he was going to shoot me. I thought it was over. Instead, he shot both my friends.”

It’s not clear how many people live at the center, which holds 80 apartment units, according to the newspaper reports.