Police say a 5-year-old boy was shot in the arm while riding his bicycle in front of his home in northwest Detroit. Investigators say a teenager fired several shots near Fargo-Oakfield Park when a stray bullet hit the boy.

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield says the young victim will recover. She called the shooting senseless gun violence and said children deserve to feel safe in their neighborhoods. She says anyone with information about the shooter should call the police or CrimeStoppers. 

-Reporting by Pat Batcheller

Additional headlines for Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Federal monitors in Detroit?

The Justice Department plans to send election monitors to Detroit, Lansing and East Lansing for Michigan’s August primaries. Those are mostly Democratic cities. President Trump has falsely claimed that fraud in Detroit cost him the 2020 election.

Phil Mayor is the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. He says the DOJ can, and has, used election monitors before. But he says Trump’s plan is troubling.  

“Given this administration’s election denialism and many of the other ways the administration has sought to discourage voting or spread false narratives, we’re certainly concerned. We’ll be watching the conduct of DOJ’s monitors carefully to ensure that they comply with the law, that they don’t interact with or harass voters.”

The chairman of the Michigan Republican Party—and a 2020 election denier—suggested this could be a trial run for placing federal agents at the polls in November. 

Faith leaders in the state are calling on legislators to pass a Michigan Voting Rights Act to fight against discrimination and protect access at the polls. 

-Reporting by Rick Pluta and Sascha Raiyn

Faith leader training

A new training is available for people who’d like to be Poll Chaplains or Peacekeepers at polling locations. 

Poll Chaplains are faith leaders who wear clerical attire at election sites and peacekeepers are religious community leaders. The training teaches both how to maintain peace and de-escalate potential conflict at polling locations to encourage voter participation.  

Faiths United to Save Democracy is a nonpartisan, multifaith and multiracial voter protection campaign.  

The training will be held on Zoom on Monday July 13 from 7-8:30 p.m. Additional training will be offered on September 28 and October 15. People will receive official credentials upon completion of training.  

People can register at turnoutsunday.com. 

Fresh food truck

Wayne County has launched a food truck to increase access to affordable, healthy food options for residents. The Well Wayne Fresh Truck Mobile Market is a “farmers market on wheels.”  

It’s an effort to feed people who are facing food insecurity. That’s 1 in 5 people in the county. 

The food truck is also a way to reduce barriers to accessing food due to limited transportation and food prices. The food truck is sponsored by a multi-million-dollar investment to address social determinants of health through community work. The mobile food truck accepts SNAP, EBT, Double Up Food Bucks, cash, and credit or debit cards. It will operate across several cities including in Highland Park, Hamtramck and Inkster. Routes will be updated quarterly and based on community feedback.    

Grow Talent program starts

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield kicks off the city’s summer jobs program for young people today. Grow Detroit’s Young Talent provides paid positions for about 8,000 teens and young adults. This year the city is adding two weeks of training for each participant in which they’ll learn about professionalism, conflict resolution and other skills.  

-Reporting by Pat Batcheller 

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Over the weekend in downtown Detroit, a 14-year-old boy was shot in the chest near Library Street and Grand River Avenue. Two groups of teenagers had converged outside a Gucci store. Police say there was an argument and one teen, in the chief’s words, “decided to settle it with a firearm.” The boy is expected to live.

For months, teenagers across the country have been mobilizing each other on social media and meeting up. In Detroit, it has been mostly just noise — kids hanging out, looking for something to do in a city that wasn’t built with them in mind.

Some nights, it has turned chaotic.

Last weekend alone, Detroit police detained 109 teenagers across two large gatherings downtown and at Palmer Park, almost all for breaking curfew.

The city’s answer is to give teenagers somewhere to go and enforce the rules more strictly. Mayor Mary Sheffield is working with organizers to move the gatherings into sanctioned spaces. Police are leaning into the existing curfew — 10 p.m. for kids under 16, 11 p.m. for 16 and 17-year-olds—and ticketing parents whose children break it.

One member of the Board of Police Commissioners says this isn’t enough. Darious Morris represents District 3 on the civilian board that oversees the Detroit Police Department. He joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to talk about what the city owes its teenagers, and what their parents owe them, too.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro