Detroit police distribute free gun locks amidst tragedy, gifts comfort students after accidental shooting
(CBS DETROIT) – As families are gathering for the holidays, the Detroit Police Department is reminding gun owners to secure their weapons to avoid tragedies.
To help them, DPD sent its Neighborhood Police Officers to deliver free gun locks across the city to those who signed up for one online or reached out to their local precinct.
"We want to help them by securing them. So this initiative is amazing. It's definitely doing its job. We're getting great feedback from it. And the community's assisting along with it by requesting these," DPD Neighborhood Police Officer David Vasquez said.
The initiative comes almost two weeks after a five-year-old boy on Detroit's west side accidentally shot himself with an unsecured gun.
As his parents are facing charges, some of his classmates at John R. King Academic And Performing Arts Academy received stuffed animals from Bear Hug Detroit.
"It's just been hard to know that one of my students is gone and won't be back, and I see his stuff all the time. So it's been hard. I just want to keep going – keep busy with the kids that are here," Jennifer Robinson, the victim's teacher, told CBS News Detroit.
Other students at John R. King also learned about gun safety on Thursday.
"Tell the kids the importance of if they do see a gun, to stop, don't touch, run away and tell an adult," DPD Neighborhood Police Officer Errol Franklin said.
He reinforced the important message of gun safety through videos and games.
Some parents dropped in for the presentation.
"My kids are a little older. So I do talk to them all the time, not just about gun safety, but about violence in general. So I usually try to let them know that if anything, any type of weapon is, you know, found anywhere at all, to do the same thing, just let an adult know," Shawn Thompson, one of those parents, said.
And it's that kind of involvement DPD would like to see more of in our community.
"You have to take time, and you have to make them understand because it's our responsibility as parents to keep our children safe. And if we're going to own firearms, we have to keep them locked up. Whether with a lock, or in a safe, or just out of sight," DPD Neighborhood Police Officer Todd Eads said.
