Volunteers help pass out food for Detroit’s homeless – Photo by Nahid Ayoub

DETROIT — A shootout broke out near the Masonic Temple Theater on Sunday, Jan. 24 while local activists and State Rep. Julie Plawecki were volunteering to feed the homeless.

At around 2:30 p.m., volunteers were mingling with homeless friends after passing out meals outside a shelter at Third and Temple Street when they heard approximately 15 shots.

The Detroit Police Department said six teenagers were involved in the incident. No one was hit, but two vehicles were struck and a man was pushed and scratched his face.

Police also said the Jan. 24 shootout is connected to a second incident that occurred two days later, involving a 20-year-old Black man who was critically injured and is now recovering at a nearby hospital. The man had a prior felony history. Three individual are in custody. 

Nahid Ayoub, director of Project Dignity Outreach, an organization that gives necessities to the homeless, was standing with Rep. Plawecki (D-Dearborn Heights) when the shots were fired, less than a hundred feet from them.

Simon McNeilly, an automotive engineer who was volunteering, said once he heard the gunshots coming from a half block away, he told everybody to run. 

McNeilly added that he counted about 12 rounds and heard a reload.

Agnes Fischer, a volunteer and yoga instructor at HYPE Athletics, said her car was in the direction of the gunfire.

“I heard them loud and clear,” Fischer said, adding that she saw three or four men running across a nearby field after hearing around 10 bullets, which “kept going.”

“Once it sunk in that these were gunshots and we were that close, I remember thinking ‘we’re so naïve of what goes on down here. Their reality is our nightmare.”

Fischer added that she felt bad and was embarrassed that Plawecki witnessed the incident and hoped it doesn’t discourage officials from supporting the cause in the future.

Plawecki recalls someone yelling “you need to get out of here” when she attempted to get to her car, which she said was also parked toward the incident.

“It was scary for me,” she said. “It was the first time I’ve been in an area where there was shooting going on.”

She said she hopes the exchange of fire does not curtail future humanitarian efforts in Detroit.

“Whether there’s gunshots going on down the street, those people are hungry,” Plawecki said.

Plawecki also pointed out that the city needs to tackle the gun issue more aggressively.

“Clearly, people are making money off of selling them off the streets and it only leads to more killings,” she said.