Detroit city leaders urge parents to step up after 14-year-old is shot downtown

City leaders in Detroit said they are stepping up curfew enforcement after the shooting of a 14-year-old following a teen takeover event over the weekend. 

Detroit police said a boy was shot in the chest near the corner of Grand River and Library on Sunday night after an altercation. 

Downtown Detroit has been plagued by spontaneous teen takeover events planned on social media. 

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield has attempted to engage the event organizers to provide a safe space downtown and even helped facilitate an event in Hart Plaza several weeks ago. 

The teen takeover events continued and over the weekend led to that 14-year-old being shot in the chest. 

"I woke up to several text messages and received some bad news; it was heartbreaking," said Dejuan Ford, a youth football coach and founder of the Anthony Taylor Foundation. 

Ford is the youth football coach of the teen who was shot Sunday night. Ford said he is counting his blessings tonight after learning that his young football star is expected to make a full recovery. 

"I have talked to his mom and people around him, and he is doing great, and it's great news... definitely a blessing," Ford said. 

Ford is also very active in the community, mentoring and teaching teens the craft of filmmaking, writing and producing. 

He also believes Mayor Sheffield initially approached the teen takeover organizers with a lot of love and grace, but said now is the time for tough love. Ford said enough is enough with these teen takeovers after last night's shooting. 

"Taking into consideration what happened the past couple days, we definitely have to kind of firm up the message. Every action that you commit is gonna be a consequence behind it. You can't just hang out and do whatever you wanna do," Ford said. 

Detroit Police Director of Communications, Jasmin Barmore, said the shooting is sad and unfortunate, and that police have already been stepping up patrols, and now it's time parents do the same or risk being ticketed for the actions of their kids. 

Everybody should be concerned at this point, and it's going to take a collective approach to really figure out how to combat this situation so that it does not continue to happen," Barmore explained. 

In April, Mayor Sheffield laid out a 6-point plan that she called a summer strategy to curb youth violence and facilitate a safe summer for Detroiters. 

Sheffield's administration worked to listen to the organizers' concerns prior to this recent violence. 

At the same time, she emphasized that teens have access to all of Detroit, including downtown, but what happened this weekend is unacceptable. 

"And we will not tolerate violence, and we will not tolerate what we saw this weekend, and we will continue to push for parental responsibility and our curfew, and so it's not an either-or, it's a both-and, and we believe our approach will continue to get the results we want to see," Mayor Sheffield explained. 

Barmore reiterated that parents will be held accountable if their teens are ticketed for a curfew violation. 

"Because this is not what we want to see happen, in our city we don't want to see our children getting shot… getting hurt, just because they're out and trying to have fun," Barmore added. 

Meanwhile, Ford said he plans to have important conversations with these players and other youth he is mentoring to explain the dangers of hanging out downtown in large crowds. 

"Don't even put yourself in that situation. Let's try to have fun elsewhere. There is a strict curfew already implemented, so go home," he said. 

The curfew for teens in the city of Detroit is as follows:

• Ages 15 and under: 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
• Ages 16 and 17: 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.