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Residents: Police Were 'Antagonistic' Before Shootout In Southwest Detroit

DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit police and residents are offering different accounts of a shooting overnight on the city's southwest side.

The shooting took place around 11:30 p.m. Thursday outside of a home on Chamberlain Street, near I-75 and Fort Street, where a large group of neighbors were gathered. By some accounts, the crowd was slightly rowdy with a couple of guys messing around and "play boxing."

Police say two officers responded to the scene after receiving a report about shots fired and when they arrived, someone took shots at them; the officers returned fire. Some residents, however, say no shots were fired until police arrived.

"The next thing you know they came and somebody really was shooting at the time -- but the police was shooting at them for no reason," Julian Burgous told WWJ's Mike Campbell. "Shooting them all toward the back while he was running, while the guy was running. It was crazy."

Roughly a dozen shots were fired. After the shooting, officers searched the area but found no signs of the possible gunman.

Fortunately no one was injured. But resident Rebecca Goulash said the situation could have turned out far worse.

"They (the police) were reckless and careless. There was kids out and they didn't seem to care," she said. "And that to me is, if you're really concerned about the safety of the people, why are you shooting when there's kids out?"

Goulash said officers had been clashing with residents in the neighborhood earlier before gunshots rang out.

"Basically, they were harassing us all day because someone was making false calls saying there was gunshots when there wasn't," she said "The police were basically antagonistic and just basically waiting for something."

It's an opinion that Burgous shared.

"The police are harassing people, they're always harassing," he said. "Coming here every time, they talking about they have calls that people are fighting and shooting -- but it was nothing."

Other residents say the police did nothing wrong, and they especially weren't harassing anybody. A neighbor who only wanted to be identified as Scott, said he has lived in the neighborhood for 40 years and this is only the third shooting he's aware of.

"No. I mean, when you look at it there's probably, what, three million cops in this country. And statistically it's like maybe one tenth of a thousandth of a percent of somebody being popped, you know, somebody being poked," he said.

Another resident, Ramona, said the problem is definitely not the police.

"No, not whatsoever. If anything, those individuals are harassing the neighbors, okay, just by being here," she said. "We can't even go outside because these idiots that don't even live here? They don't even live here. They get dropped off, they party all night. You know, we have to call the police all the time. This is not the first time gunshots have been going off. This is not the first time this week."

The gunman remains at large. He's described as a Hispanic male, 25- to 30-years old, 5'8" tall and about 200 lbs. with short hair or possibly bald, wearing a gray t-shirt. Police say they think know the suspect and his family, and they hope to have him in custody soon.

Michigan State Police are investigating the shooting.

Stay with WWJ Newsradio 950 and CBSDetroit.com for the latest. 

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