DETROIT – A 39-year-old man was shot to death early Friday in Southwest Detroit.
Loved ones of Mark Tompkins tell Local 4 News that he was killed trying to protect his car.
Sharon Wilson, Tompkins' girlfriend, said the truck driver saved his money to buy his dream car, a Ford Crown Victoia. "He loved that car. He just was so proud of it." Wilson told Local 4.
It happened just after 1 a.m. in the 6100 block of West Lafayette near Military. Sources say Tomkins likely heard someone trying to steal his car.
He ran out, still in his underwear and was shot in the head. Tompkins died at the hospital just after 3:30 a.m.
Wilson said, "He slept in a room right above where the car was parked to keep an eye on it.
" Wilson said the rims on the car were stolen a few months ago, and Tompkins was even more vigilant trying to make sure no one would try to steal or damage it. She said he even put orange traffic cones around the car.
When Tompkins lost one trucking job, his car was repossessed. "He worked so hard to get it back. I wish he hadn't," Wilson said as she cried looking at the pool of blood outside his apartment. The car thief actually drove through Tompkin's blood and left bloody tire tracks.
Police followed the tracks as far as they could, have come up with no leads.
Detroit Police homicide detectives spent Friday morning going door to door in the neighborhood asking to see if anyone heard or saw anything.