DETROIT (WXYZ) — A battering ram used to break through a door, guns drawn and a family traumatized after Detroit police executed a search warrant at home on Sunday night.
Watch Randy Wimbley's video report:
The raid took place at a home in the Garden Homes Neighborhood as police were in search of a dangerous suspect, but it appears to be a case of the right house, but wrong people.
We were watching a movie. All of a sudden we saw lights through the window and all of a sudden we hear, boom boom boom, police, open the door," Brittani Weaver said.
She told us that she and her partner, Javon Hodge-Johnson, and her children were ordered out of the house at gun point.
"They told me first, if you move I'm going to shoot you. With a shotgun pointed straight at me. Along with other hand weapons," she said. "It's scary, my son is shooken up. My daughter, she didn't stop crying and like I barely could sleep because I was scared. Every little noise is like, "who's out there?"
A spokesperson for Detroit police says they understand why the family would be shaken up, but officers had a legal warrant signed by a judge to search the house for a suspect wanted in a non-fatal shooting.
Police say Brittani and Javon's home was the suspect's last known address.
The couple says officers told them they've been watching the house since 2022, but Brittani and Javon say they just moved in about two weeks ago, and that the landlord said the house was vacant for quite awhile.
Brittany and Javon say they don't know who officer are looking for, and there was no name listed on the search warrant.
"Basically said they're looking for a male. They didn't give me no description of the male or is name only that he's highly dangerous," she said.
"They're terrified officers came with their guns out. Totally understand why the officers did because they didn't open the door right away. You, don't know what you're walking into," retired Detroit Deputy Police Chief Steve Dolunt said. We asked him for his take on the situation.
"The question is why were they there? Was there enough information to believe that the fruits of the crime or the suspect was in the location? Sounds like, sounds like he hasn't been there in a while even though that's his last known address because they're saying the house has been vacant," Dolunt said.
The family is now considering legal action against the city for what happened.
