DETROIT – Eleventh grade honors student Taea Hines has a rough road ahead to recuperation.
“She’s recovering. She’s doing better than Sunday. She’s making some improvements but she still has a long road to recovery to go. She’s only 16 and she has her whole future ahead of her. Everyone’s outraged,” said Taea’s cousin, Carla Bowers.
Bowers says the teen was allegedly shot in the stomach Sunday by a man believed to be visiting her next door neighbor after a fight with the victim’s mother about loud music.
MORE: Detroit police seek man after teen girl shot during altercation about loud music
“The neighbors were playing music and her mother didn’t get a chance to ask them to turn it down she was getting ready to ask and then an altercation escalated,” Bowers said.
Hines came to her mother’s aid and took a bullet when multiple shots were fired. The person accused of pulling the trigger then took off when a getaway driver in a 2011 Infiniti pulled up and the two sped away.
“The lady did drive off and now we’re looking for them,” Bowers said.
Yet the main focus for Hines’ family is seeing her pull through.
“We’re going to support her. We believe with the community’s support and the family support and her friends’ support ... she’ll make a full mental recovery and then we’ll work on the physical,” Bowers said.
The shooter is still on the loose.
Police said the Infiniti fled south on Vaughan Street and turned east on W. Chicago.
The shooter is described as black with brown hair and short, black hair. He is 5 feet, 5 inches tall.
Anyone with information about the man’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Detroit Police Department 6th Precinct’s Investigative Unit at 313-596-5640 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.