7-year-old girl, mother shot on Detroit's east side: "This is senseless"

Police are investigating a shooting that injured a 7-year-old girl and her 29-year-old mother Monday on Detroit's east side.

The shooting happened in the 8000 block of Farnsworth. Police Chief Todd Bettison says the incident appeared to stem from an argument over a group of young children who had been fighting earlier in the day.

"This is senseless. It doesn't even make sense. I'm just really disgusted by it," Bettison said.

A preliminary investigation found that the father of one of the children went to an apartment and confronted the woman. Bettison says the woman closed her door, and the man allegedly forced his way into the apartment, firing one shot that went through the woman's arm before it struck her child in the shoulder.

Bettison says both victims are stable. The male suspect, whose name and age have not been released, fled the area in a white GMC Terrain. 

Bettison says the suspect is known in the area and urged him to turn himself in to the police.

Teferi Brent, director of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood and Community Safety, calls the suspect's actions "not age-appropriate behavior" and urges adults to de-escalate fights among children.

"We don't respect his behavior, and he needs to meet the full force of justice and be held accountable ... because if he is emotionally immature enough to do that, we don't know what else he's capable of doing," Brent said. "It's unacceptable and it's unsafe for the neighborhood, it's unsafe for the community."

An investigation is ongoing.