Kids Flee School Amid Reports of Shots

DETROIT (AP) - Tamiko Brentley briskly maneuvered through pockets of students and parents to pick up her 17-year-old son following reports of gunfire outside his school just days after a group of teens was shot at a nearby bus stop.

While authorities could not confirm if shots actually were fired Thursday morning near Cody Ninth Grade Academy on the city's west side, parents like Brentley were not taking any chances.

"It's crazy," she said. "I just want my son to get an education. It just doesn't make sense for this to happen."

Dozens of students streamed from the school, though summer classes continued. Only students who were accompanied by parents were allowed to leave. Uniformed police officers were stationed outside the school and down the street.

Roderick Grimes, chief of the school district's police department, said a school official inside the building reportedly heard a noise outside and called 911, even though officers already were there.

Grimes said none of the officers could confirm hearing shots.

Still, that wasn't enough to allay parents' fears.

"It's better to be safe than sorry," Willis Stamps said as he left with his son and nephew, both 17.

Anger and tension appear to be mounting over Tuesday's shooting, in which gunmen opened fire as the teens waited at the bus stop, wounding seven. Both the county prosecutor and the city's mayor have denounced the shooting.

"Too often, if it doesn't impact us personally, or our family, or the neighborhood that we live in, we kind of look at it and brush it aside," Mayor Dave Bing told reporters earlier Thursday at a hospital where he met with two of the shooting victims and their families.

"I don't think our police department, law enforcement can handle this by themselves," Bing said. "And we, as a community, need to be outraged and not (accept) that this is something that's OK."

An 18-year-old man taken into custody Wednesday was expected to be released Thursday evening after prosecutors determined there was not enough evidence to charge him in the shooting.

Jamel Turner "will be released in the best interests of justice," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement.

Messages seeking comment left with Turner's attorney, David Jones, were not immediately returned.

Police were still searching for two gunmen and a getaway driver.

On Wednesday, they released a surveillance video from a nearby gas station that showed two men, who appeared to be covering their faces with shirts, running past vehicles in the station's lot with guns pointed at the group of teenagers.

The group quickly scattered. One teen, who appeared to have been shot, could be seen trying to crawl away after falling to the pavement. The gunmen then ran back to what police said was a waiting green minivan.

Bing promised prosecution to "the fullest degree" and said he would meet with the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit to strategize on how to deal with violent crime in the city.

A plan addressing youth violence is expected to be in place before fall classes start.

"We've got to put our arms around the victims here," Bing said outside Sinai-Grace Hospital. "We've got to put our arms around our young people in this city, and let them know that this has got to stop."

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Associated Press writers Jeff Karoub and Ben Leubsdorf contributed to this report.