Man charged in shooting of 5 men following fight over parking space at a Detroit bar

DETROIT (AP) — A 32-year-old Detroit man has been charged in a shooting that wounded five people in what police say was a dispute over a parking space outside a blues club.

Damond Hunter faces five counts of assault with intent to murder, five counts of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and 11 counts of using a firearm during a felony.

He was arraigned Saturday following his arrest April 10 at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. His bond was set at $5 million.

An argument started about 2:45 a.m. on March 29 outside the westside Detroit club and had become physical when one man involved pulled a gun from a vehicle and fired shots into a crowd, according to police.

Five men ages 33 to 48 were struck. The gunman then drove away. Seven or eight shell casings were found in the parking lot.

Police said it appears only one of the shooting victims was involved in the fight. The others were bystanders.

“I have seen countless arguments escalate into serious shooting incidents over the most trivial things,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Thursday in a release. “Any time a weapon is introduced, it never ends well — most times tragically.”

Hunter’s defense attorney, Arnold Weiner, agreed with Worthy and said Thursday that “when you introduce a weapon into an argument, things can go wrong.”

“In this case, it was a classic case of self-defense,” Weiner said of the charges against his client. “He was protecting others, his cousins, from being shot.”

Hunter’s probable cause conference is scheduled for Friday. A preliminary examination is scheduled for April 29.