How will Detroit's next mayor make the city safer for youth?
Crime is down overall in Detroit — but according to police, not for the city's youth who've experienced a particularly bloody summer.
Detroit police said as of last month there were 33% more juvenile victims of gun violence compared with last year, and 18% more juveniles 17 years old and under have been caught with guns.
Eight youths have been shot and killed so far in 2025. And 38 kids have been shot and injured, police said.
This summer, residents reeled from a nine-day stretch of violence that left at least 13 youths injured or dead — including a 4-year-old and 18-year-old gunned down at a playground and another teen injured because a teen suspect was mad someone ripped off his ski mask, police said.
A month later, a 6-year-old was shot dead in his own home by a stray bullet. Soon after, two more children under 10 were shot and injured in a drive by shooting while sleeping.
"I just don't think we understand what’s happening in (the) community," said Alia Harvey Quinn, founder of the community violence intervention (CVI) group Force Detroit.
