After an anonymous tipster, who shared an audio recording on social media, gave detailed description of the suspect and his vehicle, police found the missing teenager four hours later
Detroit police said on Tuesday they had recovered the 16-year-old who was arrested on Monday night and accused of fatally shooting three students in his high school, prompting a massive student lockdown and closure of schools and businesses in the area.
The 16-year-old, who police have not named, shot and killed a student in a courtyard at Fitzgerald high school on Monday afternoon and, according to police, unsuccessfully tried to kill others before he was captured by officers. He had been on the run since then.
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Four hours after officers went to the Michigan high school on Monday afternoon to investigate reports of an armed and dangerous suspect, they said they had been able to locate the boy.
“We received information and an anonymous tip we corroborated that was complete,” Detroit police chief James Craig told reporters at a news conference. “That has led us to arrest the juvenile.”
Police said the teen would be arraigned in juvenile court on Tuesday afternoon.
Police search at Fitzgerald High School in Detroit on Monday. Photograph: Joe Murphy/Detroit News via Getty Images
The shooting also endangered the community and caused concern for people living nearby, the police chief said.
A tipster provided detailed information about the shooter and his vehicle, and helped police find the teenager within hours, police said.
Video from a local television station showed officers in tactical gear surrounding and eventually detaining the suspect, who was visibly shaken.
CBS Detroit cited police as saying that during the hours-long search of the high school there were a series of “aggressive police-involved shootings, to protect students and officers”. No shots were fired during those incidents, the station reported.
I know where he is. What happened? My brother. These students are traumatized Yvonne Bell, mother of one of the victims
Izzy Chang, 14, who was shot in the neck, was in stable condition and being treated at a hospital. Liu Valerio, 14, was shot in the neck and Carlos Rivas, 15, was shot in the back and thigh, said Kenyatta Daniels, a regional director of emergency management. All three victims are from Detroit.
After hours of panic and terrified students pouring out of schools and into stores, and the school being closed indefinitely, Detroit police announced a reward of $10,000 for information that could lead to the arrest of the suspect.
“I know where he is. What happened? My brother,” said Bell, whose brother was shot. “These students are traumatized.”
Police were initially forced to drop a search of the surrounding area in fear of civil unrest. However, Craig said on Tuesday that the 4,500 residents of the impoverished city were not in danger.
“While this is obviously a tragic event, our response to this investigation has not changed,” he said. “We’re still looking for this individual, that’s why he’s in custody.”
A handout photo released by the Detroit Police Department in connection with the shooting of three students at Fitzgerald High School on 13 February, at about 1.30pm (local time) in Detroit, Michigan. Photograph: MLive
Several witnesses told local television news stations they heard multiple gunshots at the high school, and witnesses said the shooter might have jumped out of a Jeep before running away.
The Michigan education department had issued a notice to schools cancelling classes on Tuesday in “all schools in the Detroit school district”. Most of the more than 40 schools in the Detroit district are closed.
The district previously urged people to stay clear of the school. The school department said there were possible sightings of the suspect around the city on Monday.
Witnesses told CNN that the school was packed with hundreds of students during the shooting. “All of a sudden the kids just started running,” Cheryl Collins, a student at a nearby high school, told CNN.