Lashun Walden, a 27-year-old Black man from Detroit, Michigan, was sitting in a car on the city’s east side on a Friday night in mid-February 2017 when gunfire tore through the parking lot and turned an ordinary stop into a scene of panic and blood. Police said the attack unfolded in the 10000 block of Whittier Avenue at about 7:25 p.m., where two twin brothers were in separate vehicles—one in a 2016 Dodge Challenger, the other in a burgundy Hyundai Elantra—when an unknown person walked
up and opened fire. Both brothers were rushed to the hospital in critical condition, and one later died.
In the days that followed, the family described the shooting not as a random burst of violence, but as something that felt deliberate—an ambush carried out with intent. They said the twins had been parked outside Whittier Market when the gunman approached, and they believed the brothers were targeted because of an ongoing feud involving another man that had been simmering since the beginning of the year. As loved ones tried to piece together what could have led to such an attack, they spoke of the moment the shooter came close enough to make it personal: a man walking up to two cars and firing again and again, as if he’d come prepared to finish what he started.
The family’s account also painted a terrifying picture of what happened when Lashun tried to survive. They said he fought back and then ran, and that the shooter tried to execute him—aiming for his head—only for the gun to jam. In their telling, it jammed again when the gunman attempted another shot, and Lashun threw up a hand in desperation before he managed to break away and flee. While one brother died at the scene inside his car, Lashun was left hospitalized, and the family spoke publicly while he remained in critical condition.
As grief spread through the family, the violence didn’t feel contained to a single night. Relatives said that over the same weekend, their godson was also shot in connection with the same feud they believed had placed the twins in the crosshairs, deepening their conviction that the attack was part of something larger than a chance encounter. Even as they pleaded for someone—anyone—to come forward, they also voiced confidence that detectives would eventually identify the person responsible.
Public reporting from that time did not identify a named suspect, and police described the shooter only as unknown, noting they were still working to determine whether the gunman acted alone or had help. No arrests, charges, trial dates, or convictions were reported in the available coverage of the case, leaving the family’s story suspended between what they believed they understood about the motive and what investigators could publicly confirm.
