Black crime in Detroit: A fight over a seat at a baby shower triggered the killing of a 9-month-old boy, according to the victim's grandmother

Delric Miller IV died as he slept on the couch in his home. Police said that someone fired at the house with an AK-47-type assault rifle leaving behind 37 shells. One of the rounds hit the baby, who was pronounced dead at Sinai-Grace Hospital. Delric's grandmother, Cynthia Wilkins, said that she believes the shooting was in retaliation for a skirmish at a baby shower at Club Celebrity in Plymouth. "The shower was overbooked, and there was an argument because there weren't enough seats," said Wilkins. Her daughter, Diamond Salter, attended the shower, which was thrown by a friend, Wilkins said. "A woman got mad because she couldn't find a seat, so she started knocking tables down, and it escalated from there," Wilkins said. "My daughter and her friends left the club, but (a group of men and women) followed them to a gas station, and there was a fight with one of the guys who was at the shower with my daughter. Then, they followed them to the house. I think they came back the next day and shot up the house," said Wilkins, who sobbed as she recounted the events. "They went to the shower to celebrate life; instead, a life was destroyed." The shooting has outraged both police and residents, and prompted Detroit 300, a group of community activists fed up with crime, to go door-to-door asking questions, in hopes of finding the killer or killers. A task force consisting of the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives and the Wayne County Sheriff's Office is investigating the case. "Life is not valued in Detroit. It's a war zone here," Wilkins said. "We need some ground troops patrolling these streets; they send them all overseas, but they need to be here." The death was the 43rd homicide in the city in 2012, up from 35 in the same period last year. It's also the second killing of a youngster in Detroit in the past month. "Again, adult behavior has brought another child in Detroit to an end," said Police Chief Ralph Godbee.