Businesses along Gratiot hit by bullets, car during custody battle dispute

Jun 17, 2023

ROSEVILLE, Mich. (WXYZ) — A custody battle led to gunshots being fired on Gratiot Avenue Tuesday. It was a chaotic scene that spanned multiple cities and counties in metro Detroit.

It happened on Tuesday around 4 p.m. starting in Mount Clemens and ending in Dearborn, with incidents in Eastpointe and Roseville.

Grady’s Lounge in Roseville has been around since 1984 and now has a giant hole in the brick wall, after one of the cars involved spun out of control. The incident was captured by the bar’s surveillance camera.

“My bartender was in the back. She was walking in, she heard the smash and the 'bang,'" Grady's Lounge manager Kelly Alexander said. "It sounded like an explosion.”

Cameras inside and outside captured the aftermath. The car slammed into the bar’s brick wall along Gratiot. Alexander says the car’s impact sent bricks and debris flying into the bar, followed by a cloud of dust.

“You can see the skid marks outside,” Alexander said. "We had two lady customers who were sitting at the bar who got sprayed a little bit but no injuries.”

It all began after a child custody hearing in Mount Clemens. Upset family members of one parent then followed the other family down Gratiot, where multiple shots were fired by both sides.

One person was hit in the arm and taken to the hospital. Another person had a graze wound on their head. Businesses along Gratiot were also hit, like Porsche Motor City in Eastpointe.

“They were exchanging gunfire across the street and it must have been a ricocheted bullet from when they were going down the street shooting backward,” Porsche Motor City general manager Che Saydak said. "It's extremely shocking, you know? For something like that to happen in broad daylight?”

Shaydak says employees heard a number of shots when a bullet hit the dealership and shattered a window, coming to rest on the showroom floor.

"Nobody got hurt. No cars got hit. It was very, very lucky for the amount of gunfire going on over there," Shaydak said.

Later that evening, Michigan State Police got involved with a helicopter following the 30 year-old-driver, who police say was the aggressor. He was eventually arrested in Dearborn while the others involved stayed on scene and cooperated.

Meanwhile, dust still covers the inside of Grady’s, with cleanup now underway.

“It's a lot of work," Alexander said. "All the shelves, all the bottles — everything has to be cleaned.”

They also need repairs done for the wall but hope to be back open in roughly a week. They're saddened by the violence but thankful it wasn’t worse.

“They could have killed somebody. They could have killed a child. They could have killed a family,” Alexander said. "I just wish that kind of violence would just end.”

Police have everyone either identified or in custody, but they are looking for witnesses. If you saw anything contact Eastpointe Police Department Detective Showers at 586-445-9415.