BlackFacts Details

Shooting of Renisha McBride

The shooting of Renisha McBride, a 19-year-old African-American woman, occurred on November 2, 2013, in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, United States. Renisha McBride crashed her car at a street in Detroit, and then walked to a neighborhood in Dearborn Heights where she knocked on the door of a house. The homeowner, Theodore Wafer, shot McBride with a shotgun. Wafer contended that the shooting was accidental and that he thought his home was being broken into after he heard her banging on his door at 4:42 in the morning.[2]

The shooting prompted some to claim her death was a result of racial profiling.[3]

Wafer was convicted of second-degree murder on August 7, 2014,[4] and received a sentence of 17 to 32 years in prison.

On November 2, 2013, McBride crashed her car at Bramell and Majestic on the west side of Detroit. Police report that the 911 caller said a woman had been speeding down the street, struck a parked car, got out of the vehicle, and then left on foot. Police initially considered the incident a low priority, so no officers were immediately dispatched. Forty minutes later, another call was placed indicating that the driver had returned. EMS arrived on the scene, but McBride had again walked away from the scene and was not treated.[5] The owner of the parked car, who encountered McBride and called 911, told police that McBride was discombobulated and appeared to be in a confused state of not knowing where she was and not being able to give a phone number or anything.[6]

Shortly before 4:42 am, McBride was shot by homeowner Theodore Paul Wafer, 54, on the porch of his Dearborn Heights home, more than three hours after she crashed her car about a mile away.[7] [8] [9] Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy stated Wafer opened his front door and fired a shotgun blast through a screen door, hitting McBride in her face.[7]

It is unclear what McBride was doing during the three hours between the crash and the fatal shooting.[8] Her family, however, states that she was looking for help after becoming

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