Suspect remains on the loose after girl, 3, shot in Detroit

Three-year-old Amyria was supposed to be released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon, but her mother called and told us she will be staying at Children's Hospital for another night.  She's happy about that, but irate that her daughter's shooter is still on the loose.

"[I wish] it would've been me [rather] than my daughter [who] got shot, but what happened, happened, and just please help me catch this guy," Latina Edwards said.

She is at her boiling point and afraid for her family's safety after her daughter was shot after a heated altercation Tuesday evening on Detroit's east side.  She said a man who lives nearby was taunting her child.

"I told him don't talk to my daughter [any] more because he was calling her and her friend hoes.  My daughter is three years old.  She [doesn't] know what a hoe is."

The child's father got involved in the fight.  Latina and Amyria ran towards the family van.  Latina said he was high on ecstasy and Xanax.

"As I'm trying to get away in the van, he said give me my [expletive].  They passed him the gun, and he shot the vehicle.  He [knew there] wasn't [anybody] else in that van but me and my daughter."

Latina, who is also five months pregnant, said they now have no place to go because the suspect's family vandalized their home after the shooting.

"I just heard they're trying to burn my house down.  They broke in my house, kicked both of my doors in.  They busted out all my windows in my house.  The sisters poured gasoline all over me and my daughter['s] clothes."

She said police promised her housing, but didn't come through.

"They're trying to put us in the home, the shelter with homeless people and drug users and everything, and that's not safe for my daughter to go."

She also said police told her the suspect was in custody, so she was safe to tell them what really happened.

"I felt better when they told me they have this man in custody, but it's a lie.  He's still out there."

Latina said she staying with family for now.

We talked to Detroit police after the interview.  Sergeant Erin Stephens told us they offered Latina a place to stay in a domestic violence women's shelter, which is standard.  She was very sympathetic to what Latina is going through, but said with Detroit's budget the just don't have the money to put people up in hotels.

Stephens also explained that she spoke with all of the officers who are working the case.  They told her they never said the suspect was in custody.