Parents of victims of street festival shooting say DPD is not communicating with them

DETROIT (WXYZ) – After speaking with the family of Jordan Thornhill, one of the victims of the Fourth of July street festival shooting, other families of victims contacted me.

They expressed that they are frustrated with the lack of communication with the DPD and that they feel there is a divide between crime victims' families and the Detroit Police Department. So I reached out to Chief White today and asked him about this.

“Are you aware that the families of the people who shot at the street festival in May are no longer receiving any contact from the DPD? Are you aware of this?”

“Well, that would be shocking to me,” White answered.

“I didn't get a call. No one called to ask how you were today, Phillip… at least that… we didn't get anything.” says Phillip Arnold Sr., the father of one of the victims.

Arnold is not only heartbroken over the death of his son, Phillip Arnold Jr., but also over DPD's failure to contact his family.

Phillip Jr. was killed in an unauthorized shooting at a street festival on the city's east side on July 7. In total, 21 people were shot and Phillip Jr. was one of two victims who succumbed to their injuries.

And his father says he hasn't spoken to anyone in at least five weeks.

“I had to go to him personally to get any information about anything…any investigator working on the case,” he says.

Unfortunately, Phillip is not alone in this matter.

The families of Imani Peterson and Keonne Tremble both say they have not been contacted by anyone at DPD.

“I feel like they're not doing enough. They're not doing their job. They don't respond unless you call them. You have to call them.” says Peterson's mother, Ceria Joyce. “And I think that's just unfair. I just feel like nobody is doing anything. And it hurts when you know that your daughter was killed out here and you don't know what's going on.”

Imani was shot at another unauthorized street party in June. She died of her injuries fifteen days later.

I spoke to Keonne Tremble's grandmother. She says her granddaughter was also killed in June at another unauthorized street party on the east side of town. But the last time she heard from police was in June.

“I have to contact them, they don’t contact me” Says Monica Murray.

So far, no arrests have been made in any of the cases.

“I have to tell you, I've heard so many stories about what happened that night … but none of it has gotten through to the police. It's just people telling other people,” Murray says.

“It really hurts me because like I said, I'm constantly trying to reach out to her and tell her that I have stuff off the street, like… let me tell y'all what I'm hearing… I need to know and… I just feel like that's how she acts,” Joyce says.

“The thought that I will probably never know who murdered my son and why is eating me up,” says Arnold.

“I'm willing to do this. If you can give me all the names and phone numbers of these people, I'll bring them to a table in my office. I'll talk to them,” says Chief White.

I will now keep you updated on when the meeting between the chief and the families of the victims will take place.

In the meantime, if you would like to support these families, there is a Drive for Justice Against Gun Violence tomorrow remembering all the victims of the street fair shootings.

Where your voice counts