A group of activists is calling for the removal of a Detroit police officer who shot a young man in the back after the Free Press released body-camera video showing the man was running away with nothing visible in his hands before he was shot.
Officer David Gonzalez shot 18-year-old Alonzo Lee-Perkins June 22 before the Ford Fireworks. Lee-Perkins survived.
Police said at the time that they were drawn to Lee-Perkins because he was standing with another man they were arresting. The officer chased Lee-Perkins because his hands were “tucked in a way that gave officers reason to believe" he was armed, then shot him because he feared for his and others' safety, police said. A gun was recovered at the scene.
“Being shot when you are fleeing is not something
we need to normalize," said Nancy Parker, executive director of the Detroit Justice Center, who added that police could have let Lee-Perkins flee and attempted to apprehend him later. “We are being desensitized to the violence that is exacted upon Black people."
Parker and others presented their demands Tuesday outside Detroit City Hall, carrying signs that said “Justice for Alonzo” and “stop criminalizing black youth.”
In addition to calling on Police Chief Todd Bettison to fire Gonzalez, they urged Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to charge the officer in the shooting and drop charges against Lee-Perkins. Worthy had declined to charge the officer, previously telling the Free Press in a statement that, “There was insufficient evidence to overcome the officer’s rights under the laws of self defense, defense of others, and apprehending fleeing felons.” She has charged Lee-Perkins with carrying a concealed weapon, felony firearm, and resisting police.
Detroit police policy permits officers to deploy deadly force to effect the arrest of or prevent the escape of a fleeing felon only when they're suspected of high-level felonies such as murder and assault that results in life-threatening bodily injury.
Video published by the Free Press last week shows Lee-Perkins running away from Gonzalez, past construction cones and into an empty parking lot, as Gonzalez follows, repeatedly shouting, “I’m ‘bout to shoot you b--ch!”
“It is outrageous that after all of this [Lee-Perkins is] the one that’s facing charges and not Officer David Gonzalez, the person who had absolute menace towards Alonzo, who chased him and shot him in the back when he presented no danger to anyone,” said Tristan Taylor, of Detroit Will Breathe.
The shooting is part of a broader pattern uncovered by a September 2025 Free Press investigation that found 20% of Detroit police shootings over the prior decade began with nonviolent stops − often for suspected gun possession − and escalated with foot chases.
Since the report, Detroit police have shot Lee-Perkins and at least two other people who were running from attempted stops for nonviolent offenses, including carrying asuspected open intoxicant in the parking lot of a bar.
Detroit police training officials at the time told the Free Press that the department trains officers not to shoot people who are running away when the only crime they're suspect of is gun possession.
"How is it OK for officer Gonzalez to shoot my grandson in the back just because he didn’t stop?" Lee-Perkins' grandmother, Renee Wilson, said in a statement she submitted to protest organizers and shared with the Free Press. "If it was me, his momma or his daddy who did that, [the prosecutor] would be hurrying up and pressing charges on us. But it’s ok for [Gonzalez] because a cop? So he’s above the law? Tell me, how is that possible?"
Victoria Camille, a member of the department’s oversight board, the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners, noted that the news conference was being held a year after the Detroit police shooting of Tracey Allen, who was shot and injured as she drove away from a routine traffic stop last October.
Camille urged the department to resume releasing video of its shootings – a practice on hold since last fall, when the City Council passed an ordinance codifying the department’s video release policy and the Detroit Police Officers Association sued, winning a temporary injunction.
“When police hurt someone, bodycam footage must be released to the public timely and fully before the public can be brainwashed into a narrative that someone chooses for you,” Camille said.
Those gathered Tuesday also spoke to the need for Detroit youth to have gathering opportunities like the annual Ford Fireworks, which drew Lee-Perkins and his friends downtown that night.
Raina White, a staffer in the office of District 7 Councilmember Denzel McCampbell who appeared on his behalf, said that “while there is work to be done” to ensure everyone feels safe at the fireworks, “over policing and criminalizing our youth is never the way.”
Violet Ikonomova is an investigative reporter at the Free Press focused on government and police accountability in Detroit. Contact her at vikonomova@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Activists call for firing of Detroit officer who shot teen in back
