What are the Gun Laws in Detroit, Again?

Via Clayton Cramer comes this Detroit Free Press story of a drive-by by the good guys:

Police seek shooter who saved teen girl

They say passing car stopped and passenger opened fire, killing pipe-wielding assailant

A man was beating a 16-year-old girl with a pipe Wednesday morning on Detroit's west side.

Something people need to remember, firearms are used in violent crimes only about 18% of the time. If neither party has a firearm, the bigger one with the most effective weapon generally wins. And a 22 year-old man with a pipe wins out over a 16-year-old girl - until...

Suddenly, the man was dead, shot several times by a passenger in a passing car.

A good guy with a gun shows up, be it citizen or police officer.

Police are looking for the driver of the car and the gunman, who might not be a criminal suspect, but a much rarer species -- a drive-by vigilante.

"Under certain circumstances, a citizen taking violent action to protect themselves or others is warranted," said Detroit Police Cmdr. Craig Schwartz of the major crimes division. "We need to know if these actions are justified.'

With the assumption being "guilty until proven innocent."

The dead man was identified as Johnny Donaldson Jr., 22, of Detroit. Police said he was swinging a metal pipe at several women and girls at Northlawn and Plymouth at 7:45 a.m.

That's when the motorist, with the passenger next to him, rolled by in a silver Pontiac. The driver stopped, and the passenger opened fire from inside the car. Then, police said, the car might have driven over the man.

Just to be sure?

Police were investigating Donaldson on Wednesday evening and had no motive for the pipe attack. It was not known if he knew his victims.

Several children and adults suffered minor injuries from the pipe, police said. At least two of the girls were on their way to Mackenzie High School.

So this will end up as another incidence of "school-related" violence, I'm sure.

Police said they do not have a description of the two men.

For that I'm glad.

"We need them to come in to talk to us and tell us exactly what happened," Schwartz said.

"The information is that a girl was being violently assaulted at the time of the shooting. We really need to talk to these guys to get their side of it."

Let me translate: We really need to identify the people who took the law into their own hands. We know that the shooter and the driver probably have long records, because honest law-abiding citizens don't drive around with loaded firearms and drive over the body of the SOB they just shot. So we want to get their side of the story, then charge them with illegal possession of a firearm, discharging a firearm within city limits, and any other charge we can come up with.

The peons should not be defending themselves. This must be Nipped. In. The. Bud!