Pubdate: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 Source: Detroit Free Press (MI) Copyright: 2007 Detroit Free Press Contact: http://www.freep.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125 Author: Ben Schmitt DRUGS BEHIND STRING OF KILLINGS, COPS SAY Homicides in Detroit are down from last year, but a surge of at least 10 killings in the past few days has demonstrated the close link between homicides and the illegal drug trade. Police said a quadruple killing late Monday night appeared to be drug-related. Officers found a marijuana-growing operation in the basement and marijuana plants in the backyard of an east-side home on Runyon. On Monday morning, officers sent to a west-side home on Tuller, in which a 42-year-old man and his 17-year-old son were killed, believed the deaths were related to the marijuana trade, police said. Police had no evidence of a connection between the two incidents. Police questioned several suspects in the Runyon shootings but as of Tuesday night no one had been charged. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials say violence around big-time marijuana dealers is more common than people think because the drug is so profitable. "The violence has always been a part of the trade when you're dealing with large-scale marijuana trafficking," said Rich Isaacson, special agent and spokesman for the DEA field office in Detroit. Depending on purity, a pound of marijuana sells for $750 to $1,400, Isaacson said. So far this year, 287 homicides have taken place in Detroit, police said, down from 300 during the same period in 2006. In total last year, 411 homicides occurred in the city, police said. Nonfatal shootings have decreased significantly: 882 this year, down from 1,094 in the same period of 2006. At the scene of the killings in the 19000 block of Runyon, near State Fair, neighbors said the house had frequent traffic late at night. A 7-year-old boy was found unharmed. Neighbors said they heard about 30 gunshots in succession before police arrived. Police said a gang known as the Runyon Street Boys frequents the area. The victims Monday night included a 33-year-old man identified as Michael Robinson. The other victims were two unidentified men, 22 and 20, and a 25-year-old woman. A 30-year-old woman who was shot was in critical condition Tuesday at an undisclosed hospital. Four other fatal shootings occurred during the weekend. A man was killed in the 9300 block of Livernois on Sunday. Four people were shot -- one fatally -- on the front porch of a home on Walton on Sunday. And Saturday, a man was killed at a restaurant on Holbrook and another man was killed on East 7 Mile. "These aren't random shootings; these aren't people getting caught in the cross fires," police spokesman James Tate said Tuesday. "These are intended targets." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek