DETROIT

Suspect sought in fatal shooting of Detroit girl, 7

Mark Hicks
The Detroit News

Detroit police are turning to the public for help with identifying a suspect they say was involved in a west side shooting late last year that left a 7-year-old girl dead.

Chanell Berry

Investigators on Friday released video footage recovered from a home surveillance camera that showed the man arriving at a home in the 16800 block of Steel about 8:14 p.m. Dec. 27.

He is filmed leaving a light-colored 2000 Chevy Impala missing a rear driver’s side hubcap, approaching the front of the home and then firing “numerous rounds into the location with an unknown type handgun,” police said in a statement. “The male then quickly entered the Impala and drove off, south on Steel.”

Officers were called to the home about 10 minutes later. The gunfire wounded two children playing with their Christmas presents inside: Chanell Berry, 7, and a friend, Ellen Garjo, 8.

The girls were rushed to Sinai-Grace Hospital, where Chanell was pronounced dead on arrival at 8:40 p.m., according to the police report. Ellen Garjo was critically injured but survived.

Authorities initially described the incident as a domestic dispute. In the following days, police released a 23-year-old woman named as a person of interest who was at the house about two hours before the shooting. A second person, a 22-year-old man, also was released after the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office announced it had returned a warrant request back to city police for further investigation.

Ellen Garjo

Meanwhile, Chanell’s death shortly before her eighth birthday sparked a candlelight vigil that drew more than 100 supporters and calls from community activists to end violence against youth.

The second grader was among 38 homicides recorded in December — Detroit’s deadliest month in 2015.