Nation's top cop to speak in crime-ridden Detroit at NAACP Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner

DETROIT - There was a time when Donyale DeLoach worried little for her safety as she traveled in and around Detroit. That was until her fiancé, Tarrance Timmons, was found shot to death last December in a parked minivan on a city street.

She now follows the near-daily media reports of murder and mayhem.

"This past year has been very deadly," said the 42-year-old DeLoach. "The criminals are becoming more brazen to attack women and older people. I never once felt like I needed to arm myself until now."

On the eve of an appearance by the nation's top law enforcement official, the bloodshed continues in Detroit. The homicide rate is high and the prospect of a long, hot summer weighs heavy on many residents.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will take the dais Sunday at a fundraising dinner in Detroit. A spokesman for Holder told The Associated Press on Friday that violent crime in the city will be among the issues addressed in his speech at the Detroit NAACP's Fight for Freedom Fund event.

Curbing crime likely will be on the minds of many attendees. Detroit once earned the nickname, "Murder City," after there were more than 700 homicides in 1974.

With a population of just over 700,000, the city's current murder rate is among the highest in the nation. Homicides have topped 300 each in the past four years, and 344 were committed in 2011.

Through April 8, the city's 96 homicides were slightly behind the 103 committed at the same time last year. Rapes are up just over 2 percent and larcenies 2.5 percent. Assaults and burglaries are both up about 1.7 percent, while car thefts have increased by more than 3 percent over the same time last year.

Already this year, Detroit has faced a spate of violence that includes gruesome crime scenes, abductions, sexual assaults and bizarre fatal shootings, one prompted by a dispute over the price of condoms.

In response, police have increased street patrols and the FBI and other federal agencies have vowed to help in the most crime-plagued neighborhoods, including the tough northeast side of Detroit.

Gov. Rick Snyder said in March that he wants to hire 180 more state troopers this year. He also has proposed having the state police coordinate local, state and federal law enforcement efforts in Detroit, Flint, Pontiac and Saginaw — all of which are among the top 10 U.S. cities of more than 50,000 people with the worst crime rates. The teams would focus not only on violent crime but also crimes that contribute to violent activity, such as arson and the organized theft of metals, baby formula and other materials.

"People in Detroit are sick and tired of people getting killed," said Auday Arabo, head of an organization representing convenience stores and gas stations. Arabo and others in the community expressed outrage Wednesday — a day after a liquor store owner was gunned down during a robbery.

Two other people also were shot during separate holdups Tuesday. On Monday, a woman was found shot to death in a car.

"This has got to stop and it's going to stop," said Arabo, whose group, Associated Food and Petroleum Dealers, is offering a $50,000 reward in the slaying of 63-year-old Fred Dally. "We're not going to let a bunch of thugs squeeze the life out of this community and squeeze the life out of Detroit."

As of Friday morning, no arrests had been made in Dally's death.

"This crime was not committed in the dark. It was committed in broad daylight," Detroit homicide Inspector Dwane Blackmon said Wednesday. "Because of that — this community knows."

DeLoach also believes someone, somewhere, knows who killed her fiance. She hopes they come forward, as she knows that Detroit's police force is stretched thin.

"The criminal element is taking advantage of that because they know the police can't be everyplace," she said.