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."
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