Youth Opens Fire in Detroit McDonald’s; 8 Teen-Agers Wounded

A youth armed with a rifle or sawed-off shotgun opened fire in a McDonald’s restaurant crowded with lunchtime patrons Friday and wounded eight other teen-agers, police said.

The 17-year-old gunman and two other youths, ages 17 and 18, were arrested within an hour of the shootings, Deputy Police Chief Richard Dungy said. Police refused to identify the suspects.

The attack in the restaurant, which is in a commercial strip opposite Detroit Cody High School, apparently was related to a dispute among students at the school and non-students, Dungy said.

“It appears this altercation stemmed from an argument over alleged damage to one vehicle,” Dungy said. “All the victims were under 18, so we’re assuming they all were from Cody.”

Gang Connection Unknown

Dungy said he could not confirm earlier police reports that the violence may have been gang-related. “The three individuals we have in custody, we have no record of them being involved in gangs,” he said.

The gunman was arrested several blocks away, Dungy said. He would not say where the others were found.

Some of the wounded probably were innocent bystanders, he said. Police said no one was critically injured.

Three of the injured--boys ages 14, 15 and 16--were taken to Oakwood Hospital, where they were said to be in stable condition. Hospital spokeswoman Pat O’Dowd described their wounds as open abrasions.

She said their injuries did not appear to be from gunshots. “It could be fragments,” she said.

The five others who were injured were taken to Mount Carmel Mercy Hospital in Detroit. Hospital spokeswoman Virginia Calihan said their ages ranged from 14 to 18.

Victims in Surgery

She said two of the victims were in stable condition and two others were in surgery Friday afternoon, one with a wound to the abdomen and the other with wounds to the hand and wrist. She said the fifth student’s injuries were minor.

A 21-year-old Detroit man who refused to give his name said he was eating lunch in the restaurant when he heard shots, looked up and saw “fire coming from the gun. I heard the shots and put my head on the floor.

“After the shots, everyone was breaking for the door. It looked like Vietnam. Everybody was running for their life,” he said. “I didn’t see who had the gun, I just saw the fire.”