PONTIAC, Mich. – A man has been charged with murder in connection with the fatal October shooting of a 16-year-old girl who was walking in a Pontiac neighborhood.
K’Nique Lawrence, 32, is one of at least two men believed to be involved in the death of teenager Desiree Childs, who was shot while walking with a friend on Oct. 28. At about 11:20 p.m. that day, Childs was shot in the leg and chest while on South Johnson Avenue near Menominee Road, police said.
Childs was taken to the hospital, where she later died from her injuries. Her friend was not injured in the shooting.
Both the girl’s family and investigators have said they don’t believe the bullets were meant for Childs, who regularly walked around that neighborhood, which is near her home.
Lawrence was arrested on Nov. 3, and has been charged with open murder and three firearms charges in connection with the shooting. He was arraigned on Tuesday.
Lawrence is the only person to be charged in Childs’ death so far. A second man, identified in a criminal complaint as 27-year-old Jameel Tanzil, is also believed to be involved in the crime, though no such charges had been brought against him as of Tuesday. Tanzil was being held on a seemingly unrelated felony firearm charge.
New details from authorities
A federal criminal complaint was filed against Tanzil on Nov. 3 by an ATF agent. The multiple-page document shares details that allegedly place Tanzil at the scene of the Oct. 28 shooting alongside an “unindicted suspect” who was not named. It is now believed that unidentified suspect is Lawrence.
According to the complaint, the unidentified suspect lives at a home on Johnson Avenue right where the shooting occurred. Police located several cartridge cases on the sidewalk in the immediate area, and witnesses reported seeing muzzle flashes from that area on the night of the shooting.
After Childs was shot on Oct. 28, three men ran over to check on the girl, witnesses told police. Two of the men got into an SUV parked at the home on Johnson Avenue -- a vehicle that witnesses say belongs to the homeowner. It’s unclear if those men were Tanzil and Lawrence.
It’s also unknown what the third man did.
An hour before the shooting occurred, the criminal complaint alleges that Tanzil and the unidentified man were involved in a “traffic accident and assault” at the same location as the shooting. Tanzil was a passenger in the involved SUV and the unidentified suspect was driving, witnesses said, and they both reportedly left the scene before police arrived.
No other details about the traffic incident were provided in the criminal complaint.
Authorities executed a search of the Johnson Avenue home on Oct. 29, where they found two guns hidden in a backpack underneath the basement stairs, the complaint says. The firearms were test fired by law enforcement and the casings reportedly matched those found at the scene of Childs’ shooting.
Tanzil’s child was present in the home when authorities arrived to search it, officials said. There were three other minor children in the home that belonged to the homeowner. No adults were home when law enforcement arrived.
Tanzil was arrested on Oct. 30, and admitted to police that he was at the home on Johnson Avenue on the night of the shooting, but “denied being involved in the shooting.”
Authorities later searched Tanzil’s “registered probation residence,” which is a Pontiac home shared with his mother and her 8-year-old son. A .22 caliber rifle was found in a cabinet in Tanzil’s bedroom, which authorities identified as being manufactured outside of Michigan, meaning the gun had “traveled in and affected interstate commerce.”
So far, Tanzil had only been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. The man has been convicted of four felonies over the past few years, and was sentenced to “two years of probation with a suspended prison sentence of one to ten years” in December 2022, the criminal complaint reads.
It is currently unclear if Tanzil was involved in the fatal shooting of the 16-year-old girl. He faced no formal charges related to the shooting as of Nov. 7.
Lawrence has been charged with open murder -- which means the prosecutor is not pushing for first-degree or second-degree murder, and will rather let a jury choose the most appropriate option -- in connection with Childs’ death. He has also been charged with two counts of felony firearm, and one count of felon in possession of a firearm.
The criminal complaint also says Tanzil is accused of stealing three guns from a co-worker in Auburn Hills in August. It was unclear if any of those weapons were used in the Oct. 28 shooting.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Childs’ family. You can donate here.
Full criminal complaint
Below is the entire criminal complaint filed against Tanzil by the ATF on Nov. 3.