DETROIT (WXYZ) — “Mom, I’m shot.” Those are some of the last words Yquitta Wells would hear her daughter Ciera say just moments after they heard gunshots Monday.
“I ducked and I looked in the back and all I saw was powder smoke from the gun,” Wells said.
She told 7 Action News that several bullets hit their car.
Wells says Ciera, who was driving, lost control on Maddelein Street near 7 Mile. She was driving to the market to buy fruit with her mother and sister at the time.
“We ran into a pole. We ran into another pole. We ran up on the grass up into the gate,” Wells recalled.
The city of Detroit’s ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection system, notified the police department.
“Somebody please help me, my baby’s been shot. Somebody please help me!” Wells cried out as she tried to get her 20-year-old help.
Wells says she waited and waited for an ambulance.
“The ambulance never showed. They never showed. My baby was sitting there in the car and we were yelling where is the ambulance,” Wells said.
On Broadcastify, a source for police scanner audio streams, you can hear an officer asking on the ETA of the ambulance.
Wells says an officer put her daughter in the patrol car and drove her to a nearby hospital where she later died.
The family just celebrated Ciera’s birthday on Sunday at the Riverwalk downtown.
Her grandmother Cheretta Wells says her granddaughter lit up every room.
“They took away our breath. She was a joy to see every day,” she said.
A source close to the investigation told us this is a case of mistaken identity. Two people have been taken into custody.
“We are a close family. We don’t bother anybody. Who would shoot in the car?” the grieving grandmother asked.
Ciera is the oldest of five children. The family created a fundraiser to help raise money for her funeral. To donate, visit the family's GoFundMe page.
