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DETROIT—A probe into the shooting death of a seven-year-old girl by Detroit police was turned over to state investigators Monday amid questions raised by a videotape from the scene.
Police reported that shortly after midnight Sunday, officers from a special unit arrived at a home on the city's east side with an arrest warrant for a murder suspect.
Officers threw a so-called flash-bang grenade into the home and forced their way inside. The scene was captured on videotape by a crew hired by a cable-TV reality show.
Inside the home, according to police, an officer's gun discharged unintentionally and the bullet struck Aiyana Jones in the head as the child slept on a couch. The girl was declared dead at a nearby hospital.
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Associated Press
A memorial at the Detroit house where Aiyana Jones was shot.
Police said the officer's gun went off either when he struggled with the girl's grandmother or collided with her.
But an attorney hired by the girl's family disputed the police account. Geoffrey Fieger, a high-profile Michigan attorney, said by telephone Monday that he reviewed the video of the raid that showed a Detroit police officer had fired at the house from outside.
Mr. Fieger said the grenade was thrown through a window and caused burns on Aiyana Jones's body. "If ordinary folks can't get protection from that type of thing happening, and a cover-up afterwards, we are in a serious, serious shape," Mr. Fieger said.
Michigan State Police Capt. Harold Love said he had no comment on Mr. Fieger's allegations, saying that he did not want to damage the integrity of the investigation.
Detroit police had been accompanied by a crew for Arts & Entertainment Television Network's The First 48, which follows homicide detectives in the first days of a murder investigation.
A person familiar with the matter said the TV crew did not enter the home with the special tactical response team and turned over their tape to authorities.
The Detroit Police Department asked the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office on Monday for an independent investigation of the shooting. County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said she asked the Michigan State Police to lead the investigation.
Police had search warrants for both the upstairs and downstairs unit of duplex where the shooting occurred. They arrested a man in the upper unit in connection with a killing last week of a 17-year old boy. Police would not release the name of the suspect, who has not been charged.
Charles Jones, Aiyana's father, lives in the lower unit of the duplex.
"They came to the wrong house," said Crystal Sanders, the girl's aunt, who lives in the upstairs unit.
On Monday, the front of the white, two-story house was decorated with balloons and stuffed animals. A bloodstained sofa was dragged onto the porch.
Police hauled away a GMC Yukon sport-utility vehicle from a fenced yard next to the home, a vehicle similar to one allegedly sought by police in the homicide investigation.
Detroit police defended their tactics during a press conference Sunday.
Assistant Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee said the officer had some kind of physical contact with Aiyana's grandmother in the home before the gun discharged.
"This is any parent's worst nightmare. It is also any police officer's nightmare. And today this nightmare is all too real," Mr. Godbee said.
The officer in the shooting was not named and was put on leave, officials said.
Officials had not yet released the name of the suspect arrested in the case. It was unclear whether the man had a connection with Aiyana or other residents of the duplex.
Police said they obtained their arrest warrant based on information they learned about the suspect, as well as a vehicle that linked him to the murder scene.
In April, one police officer was killed and four other wounded in a shoot-out with suspects in a vacant home, marking the first death of a Detroit police officer in five years.