Detroit Riot

The Detroit Riot happened on a Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1967. It was a deadly riot. Most of the stores were closed and were easy to steal from, but some of the bigger names remained open. Early that Sunday morning, the police department raided a Black club, which wasn't even close to the riot area. Their raid got a little out of hand and in a matter of hours, all control was lost. The stores in the community were robbed, not a one was left unrobbed. Looters were running around everywhere, many driving. They would run their car into the store to gain entry or would put chains on there car to pull a gate off. Many of the looters had to find a place to store there goods. Many would hide them in bushes or under stuff. Many times there stuff would be taken from the place while they were away. There were some police men in that area, but an I-witness account says that they were not doing anything, probably because there were so many people. Many of the looters started fires and when the firemen came, snipers started to do there assigned job. The snipers would shoot any firemen they could get their aim at, since they were all white. Shots rang out all through the next night. When it was over, 43 people had died, and 7200 people had been arrested. Most of the owners who lost their stores never rebuilt them. All those people lost their lives due to senseless violence.