Inset: Gyasi Stribling (Oakland County Jail). Background: 12 North apartments in Southfield, Michigan (Google Maps).
A jury in Michigan found a 24-year-old man guilty of shooting his 8-year-old sister to death in the living room of their apartment because she was “talking back” to him.
Gyasi Stribling was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2021 death of Bailei Singleton, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release.
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“Bailei Singleton should still be here with us today,” Prosecutor Karen McDonald said in a statement. “Her murder was a tragedy for her family. It’s unconscionable that anyone, let alone an 8-year-old child, could be murdered by a relative and in their own home over the slightest of disagreements. This case is, unfortunately, a reminder of how gun violence is a public health epidemic that can end a life in an instant.”
Police in Southfield, a suburb of Detroit, responded on Jan. 3, 2021, to the 12 North Apartments. Bailei was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and, days later, succumbed to her injuries.
According to The Detroit News, the then 20-year-old Stribling tried to say that his sister was shot during a robbery. But that story fell apart after two witnesses in the home told a different story. He also ditched the gun but cops later found it. Police arrested Stribling a couple days after the murder and he’s been in the Oakland County Jail ever since.
Cops were stunned by the crime.
“It’s stressful for us,” Southfield police Chief Elvin Barren told local NBC affiliate WDIV at the time. “It’s stressful for me to stand here before you and control my emotions when talking about an 8-year-old child.”
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Barren called it a “heinous crime” and said he was “confident” Stribling would go to prison. Barren’s prediction came to fruition as jurors convicted the defendant after a two-day trial.
Stribling faces life in prison when he’s sentenced on May 25.
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