A 19-year-old man has been charged in connection with a shooting that injured two Detroit police officers last weekend.
Accused shooter Juwan Alexander Plummer entered a not-guilty plea at his arraignment Wednesday, April 19, after he was charged with two counts of intentional discharge of a firearm in a building causing serious injury, along with two counts of intentional discharge of a firearm in a building causing injury, ClickonDetroit.com reported. Plummer was also hit with four counts of felony firearms violations.
The charges stem from an April 16 shooting in which the young man accidentally shot two police officers who he thought were burglars. One officer was struck with shrapnel in his left arm while the other was shot in the face by Plummer’s shotgun. That officer remains in critical condition.
At the arraignment, prosecutors tried to paint the teen as someone who intentionally shot at the men, knowing they were officers. Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy not only requested a high bond but also asked that Plummer be placed on house arrest, as he was a danger to the community.
“This case is very unfortunate and could have been much worse,” Worthy said. “We simply cannot and will not ignore the alleged actions of the defendant in this case. The victims could well have been a neighbor or a small child. The lives of these officers, who were doing their jobs, will never be the same and we must hold people accountable for their actions.”
The two officers responded to a burglary call at a home near the 20000 block of Lesure Street around 11:45 Sunday night. Plummer, his mother and his 14-year-old sibling were in the home when police approached. Detroit Police Chief James Craig said calls of a burglary at the home were first made on Thursday, April 13, and that three more were made on Sunday.
When the officers arrived at the home on an unrelated call that night, Plummer failed to realize they were officers, not burglars, approaching his home. Fearing for his family’s safety, the young man retrieved a shotgun and fired at the men through a window after seeing their flashlights. Both officers were struck.
Prosecutors also tried to claim that the officers had identified themselves upon arriving at the house and that Plummer blindly shot out of the window without looking. They admitted, however, that the police vehicle was not visible from the front of the home and that no emergency lights were flashing.
The judge ultimately sided with Plummer, denying Worthy’s requests for a high cash bond and a GPS tether. Bond was instead set at $25,000, according to ClickoDetroit.com.
Detroit Police said the teen has shown extreme remorse since the incident happened. Plummer’s father, Vincent Redd, told local station Fox 2 News that his son was still shaken up from an attempted burglary at the house the week before and was only trying to look out for his family.
“He was just the man of the house trying to do the right thing, concerned, worried about his mother and his brother,” Redd said. “He wasn’t trying to hurt anybody. He just wanted to scare him off.”
Plummer is scheduled to appear back in court on Wednesday, April 25.
