A man shot by a brother of a high-ranking Detroit Police Officer speaks out

The victim of the shooting says he wants justice
 

Originally Published: Jun 13, 2010 on wxyz.com

 

Detroit (WXYZ) – A brother of a high-ranking Detroit Police Officer opened fire on a man, shooting him in the back several times. The police department said the shooter acted in self-defense. But the victim tells another story.

Alden Vasser is still recovering from the day he was shot. He says he was in the hospital for six weeks.

Medical records show he was shot at least six times, three times in his back.

“I don’t know why I’m bleeding in the street like this for selling a car,” says Vasser about what he was thinking the day he was shot.

Vasser says he was just trying to sell his Chevy Impala to a friend of a friend for $5000. But when the buyer didn’t have the full amount, Vasser says he left and headed for his car. That’s when the buyer grabbed the title out of his hand, he says.

Vasser says he ran after him, but the man’s uncle opened fire. Vasser, who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, says he tried to shoot back, but was shot in the hand.

“I fell in the street,” recalls Vasser.

“I was like in shock. I was just praying,” says Vasser’s mother Monique Vasser-Reeves.

She got the call that her son was shot. At the hospital, she says police told her that her son was under arrest.

“They just told me he was the aggressor,” says Vasser-Reeves.

But the police never requested a warrant for Vassers arrest or for the man who shot him – though the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office says that is standard procedure in a shooting. The shooter Erron Jones is the brother of Eric Jones who heads the police department’s Mobile Strike Force. Erron declined to talk to Action News.

But he did tell our reporting partners at the Detroit News that he shot in self-defense. The Detroit Police Department initially told the Detroit News the same.

“It’s just crazy,” says attorney Dan Romano, who represents Vasser.

Romano says there is no way it was self-defense considering how many times Vasser was shot in the back.

“If this was anybody else’s but a police officers’ brother, he would have been arrested at the scene…,” says Romano.

Vasser says he just wants the man who shot him arrested.

“Just take the person down who did this to me,” he says.

The Detroit Police Department would not speak to Action News. But in a written statement say they turned the investigation over to the Michigan State Police “to address any concerns about the integrity of the investigation…” Just this week the state police turned over their finding to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office for review.