In the early hours of the morning on November 2nd, a woman seeking help was shot to death on the porch of a local Detroit resident. Renisha McBride, a 19 year-old African American woman, was killed while reportedly seeking help after a car accident she had been in just prior to the shooting. McBride approached the house of a Dearborn Heights resident and was tragically shot and killed on the porch.
Police received report of the car crash McBride was involved in around 1 am, but by the time they arrived McBride had fled the scene. Obviously disoriented by the trauma, McBride fled the scene of the car crash and went searching for help. This brought her to the porch of a white, male resident who heard the knock on his door and responded by shooting McBride in the face.
It is still undetermined whether or not this act was one of self defense or racial profiling. McBride's family believes that it is indeed a case of racial profiling. McBride's aunt, Bernita Sprinks told papers: “He shot her in the head ... for what? For knocking on his door? If he felt scared or threatened, he should have called 911. ... She went looking for help and now she’s dead.”
Michigan does have a law similar to the “Stand Your Ground” law. This law allows citizens to respond with deadly force if they feel threatened with physical harm or death. Because of this law, it is possible that McBride's shooter shot her in an act of self defense because he felt threatened. Unfortunately, police have released little information on the shooter.
McBride's case is being compared to the one of Jonathan Ferrell. Ferrell was shot and killed in September by a North Carolina police officer. Like McBride, Ferrell had been in a car accident prior to the shooting and went searching for help. When he approached the house of Randall Kerrick, Kerrick mistook him as an intruder and shot him 10 times. Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter. This case is also being compared to that of Trayvon Martin, an African American teen who was shot in Florida by a white, neighbourhood watchman after a confrontation in February 2012.
The McBride family's lawyer, Gerald Thurswell, refused to say whether the case is one that was motivated by racial profiling. Thurswell told The Windsor Star, “It's too soon to jump to conclusions.” However, Thurswell also told the paper, “We know the shooter was white, and Renisha was black, she was five feet four inches tall, she was on his porch, and he comes out with a shotgun, takes off the safety, and he pulls the trigger and blows her head off.”
According to Michigan's version of the “Stand Your Ground” law, you must be in legitimate fear of your life to act with deadly force. McBride's shooter, whose name has not yet been released, told the media that he did indeed feel that his life was being threatened.
“There’s no way in this world that the shooter in this case can reasonably believe that he was in imminent danger of his life,” Thurswell told the Star.
The shooter is not currently in custody. The case is now being reviewed by the office of Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy. A warrant for the arrest of the shooter is being processed and will be issued when the charges have been solidified.
Thurswell said the McBride family is prepared to wait as long as it takes for the prosecutor’s office to complete their investigation, so long as it leads to justice.
