Warren girl, 3, shot when grandma moves AK-47

Warren Police are investigating the shooting of 3-year-old girl struck by a bullet from what police described as an AK-47 being moved by her grandmother.

Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer said officers received a 911 call at 10:20 a.m. Wednesday about the shooting at a home located in the 13000 block of Charlotte Avenue near Groesbeck Highway and Toepfer Road.

He said the girl is in stable condition at a hospital and her leg was just grazed by the bullet.

"We were very, very fortunate this morning," Dwyer said.

The girl's grandmother told police she found the weapon under a bed in a room on the top floor of the house, officials said.

The woman was concerned about the safety of her grandchildren in the house and decided to remove the gun and unload it when it fired a single shot, the police commissioner said.

"She indicated she was trying to get rid of the AK-47 because she was concerned for the safety of her grandchildren," he said.

The round went through the floor and into the home's first floor where it grazed the 3-year-old girl in the leg, according to Dwyer.

"It traveled to the level below that where the woman's 18-year-old granddaughter was sitting on a couch and just barely missed her," he said.

He said early Wednesday afternoon detectives are still on the scene of the shooting and interviewing witnesses.

Dwyer said it won't be determined what charges, if any, the woman will face in the shooting until the investigation is completed.

He also said the weapon belongs to the woman's son-in-law. He and his wife, the woman's daughter, were both at work at the time of the shooting, Dwyer said.

The couple owns the home and the victim's grandmother was visiting when the incident happened, he said.

Neighbor Reginald Dawson, 19, said he looked outside around noon to find “cops scattered around the whole block,” then learned what happened through media reports.

He described the neighborhood as quiet, not the kind of place one would need an AK-47 to protect themselves.

“We gotta do better about these kids, man,” Dawson said.

A woman inside the home declined comment, as did several loved ones who pulled up just before 1 p.m.

One woman in the group, who did not identify herself, said only that the child who was grazed is “fine and smiling.”

cramirez@detroitnews.com