DETROIT (WXYZ) — For Rose Anderson, not a day goes by where she doesn’t think of her son Kelvin Wheeler Jr., who was a father and a minister killed in July of 2020 on Detroit’s west side. He was just 34 years old, and his case remains unsolved.
“My son will be gone two years now going into the third year, and I still don't know why someone would kill my son. He was innocent," Anderson said.
Her pain was felt by too many in the community. In a town hall panel, hundreds showed up to discuss crime, filling out Q and A cards to speak out on what’s going on in their neighborhoods.
“I can see based on the television, there’s an uptick in carjackings and just vandalism,” Detroit resident Stephen Smiley said. “I think we’re getting better, our crime is coming down and we just need to come out and support each other.”
A large part of the meeting focused on ShotSpotter as Detroit police advocated for the technology. The department is currently asking city council for an additional $7 million in funding, which would expand the reach of ShotSpotter to 28 square miles in the city.
Outside the doors of the meeting, people were met by a sea of grave markers, each marking a life that was lost this year.
“It touches your heart even though we know that this is still really not all of it. This is just a touch of what’s really going on,” Detroit resident Sandra Studvent said.
Sudvent has called the east side of Detroit home for 77 years, a number much larger than the age listed on many of these signs.
“A lot of our young Black people getting killed today,” Studvent said. "It's just too much violence and we have to get together to find a solution and find a way to stop this.”
According to the Detroit Police Department, so far in 2022, 16 children have been killed in Detroit homicides compared to nine this same time last year. After the meeting, Police Chief James White was asked why he believes there's an uptick.
“I think a large number of guns in our community, gun safety issues, people not securing their weapons,” White said.
As the community searches for an answer, Anderson is still searching for her own answers, hoping to one day find justice in her sons unsolved case.
“I'm going to keep trying to find out what happened because he deserves some justice, his son deserves some justice for his daddy,” Anderson said. "I don't give up, I got to keep speaking for him. He’s not here to speak for himself to tell what happened.”
