DETROIT – Police have identified a man suspected of murdering two women in Redford Township before he was killed in a shootout with Detroit officers, according to authorities.
Redford Township shooting
Louis Patrick Veal, 65, was involved in a shooting at 10:21 p.m. Friday at his home in the 14000 block of Mercedes Street in Redford Township, police said.
Officials said Veal was at the home with Dania Phillips, her 16-year-old daughter, her 4-year-old grandson and Lysa Blake.
Phillips, 49, got into a violent argument with Veal inside the home, police said. Blake and Phillilps’ daughter heard the argument and ran upstairs from the basement, according to authorities.
According to her father, Blake, 18, tried to stop the argument and was fatally shot by Veal.
“My baby died a hero,” Mitchell Blake said. “It’s hard. I never get to walk my baby girl down the aisle, never going to see her graduate from college."
Police said Phillips ran outside before being shot by Veal. She also died from her injuries.
“Dania is a sweetheart,” her sister, Evelyn Thomas-Stewart, said. “She’s a beautiful, beautiful person. The woman will take the clothes off her back and give it to you.”
Thomas-Stewart said Veal was considered a part of the family.
“This man has been in our life for the past 33 years,” Thomas-Stewart said. “We considered him to be our stepfather.”
She said Phillips’ 16-year-old daughter is heartbroken.
“She’s not well," Thomas-Stewart said. “She lost her mother and her best friend. She is not doing well. To witness her mother being murdered and her best friend? It’s unfathomable.”
Shootout with Detroit police
Officers said they arrived at the Redford Township home and found the bodies of the two women. Veal had fled the scene in a stolen vehicle, police said.
The vehicle was found in Detroit’s Seventh Precinct and Veal was tracked down around 4:45 p.m. Satruday at a neighborhood bar near the intersection of Woodlawn and Van Dyke avenues on Detroit’s east side, authorities said.
When officers approached Veal with a search warrant, he opened fire, officials said.
Police returned fire, killing Veal, according to authorities.
No other injuries were reported.