AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Ryan Garza
Raymone Jackson looks around the courtroom while appearing in front of Judge Sabrina Johnson on Thursday, July 3, 2014, during his arraignment at Inkster 22nd District Court for a shooting that killed 2-year-old Kamiya Gross.
Thursday, July 3, 2014 | 5 p.m.
INKSTER, Mich. — A man accused of killing a 2-year-old Detroit-area girl shot her in front of her father to torture him, state police said Thursday.
The comments from Lt. Michael Shaw came after Raymone Jackson, 24, of Inkster, appeared in court on a first-degree murder charge and was sent back to jail with no bond.
"The child was the intended target," Shaw told reporters outside court. "He was going to kill the child in front of this guy and then kill him afterward so that it would be the last thing he sees."
The girl was shot in the head Tuesday while on the porch of an Inkster home. Inkster police believe it was retaliation for a shooting in April.
Besides murder, Jackson is also charged with attempted murder, torture and other crimes. Kamiya's father, Ken French, 34, and a family friend, 12-year-old Chelsea Lancaster, were also shot and are in a hospital. It wasn't immediately known if Jackson has an attorney.
"Anybody that feels that they can execute a child in the state of Michigan, we're going to go after them with everything that we can," Shaw said.
The toddler has been identified by police as Kamiya Gross. But Mary Mazur of the medical examiner's office said the girl's mother identified her as Kamiya French.
Chelsea's grandfather said she had surgery to remove bullets from her stomach area.
"She's going to make a 100 percent recovery, but it's just going to take time," Darrell Holt said.
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