Detroit college student fatally shot in front of his brother - KMSP-TV

Detroit college student, 18, fatally shot in front of his younger brother

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By Maurielle Lue
Fox 2 News


DETROIT (WJBK) -- "He was like, 'Get on the ground,' and we laid down.  And they're like, 'What y'all got?'  And my cousin, he was like, 'We ain't got nothing.'  And that's when they kicked him the eye, then they asked me, 'What y'all got?' and shot my brother twice."

18-year-old True Whitsey was killed right in front of his baby brother.  The brothers were leaving their sister's house with a friend when they were approached by two men in a red Focus.  They were robbed and True was shot in the back and on his side.  He died at the hospital.

"Why my baby?  He was just a college kid home visiting from school," said mother Tamika Brown.  "He wasn't [a] bad kid."

His mother boasts of her son's 4.0 GPA all through high school.  He had a full, four year scholarship to Ferris State where he planned to study corporate law -- a bright, young mind with the world at his feet.

"That was the worse thing I ever [did] in my life, to identify my baby on the screen," Brown said.  "They killed both of my sons.  They took one life and messed the other one's mind up.  He had to witness his brother's death.  It don't get [any] worse than that."

True's baby brother said there was something that will make the shooter easy to find.

"He had a tattoo... on the corner of his right eye."
True's mother is planning a candlelight vigil on Joy and Stahelin Saturday night at 6:45.  She wants the entire community to show up and support her son.

True Whitsey was mentored by Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh.  He released a statement Friday saying, "He was a well mannered young man with goals.  I am heartbroken, and it makes me want to double my efforts to save our city by helping not just those who are college bound... but to catch those in enough time to stop them from being prison bound."

  • Maurielle LueMaurielle Lue

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