In the early morning hours of May 25, 2021, a residence in Inkster, Michigan, became the scene of two violent incidents occurring just hours apart. The events began around 4:00 a.m. when law enforcement officers responded to a call at a home on Inkster Road regarding a shooting. Upon arrival, they discovered a female victim, identified as the girlfriend of Burnis King, suffering from non-fatal gunshot wounds to her leg and backside.
She was transported for medical treatment and was expected to recover. During their initial investigation at the scene, police confiscated a registered firearm belonging to King. This action was reportedly taken as a precautionary measure to ensure the weapon had not been involved in the shooting of his girlfriend.
After the police concluded their preliminary investigation and departed the scene, the situation escalated tragically. Approximately two hours later, around 6:05 a.m., an assailant returned to the home. Burnis King, a Black male, was on his front porch when he was targeted and fatally shot in the head. Authorities theorized that the shooter or shooters may have been observing the property, waiting for law enforcement to leave before returning to attack King. Investigators also considered the possibility that the initial shooting of the girlfriend was intended to draw out or target King, or that the assailants returned to finish what they had started earlier that morning.
The murder of Burnis King added to a profound history of loss for his family. His mother, Kathy Ballard, publicly expressed her devastation, revealing that King was the fourth son she had lost to violence over the years, following the deaths of her other sons Leon Ballard, Lucky Hurst, and Vernon Hurst. She criticized the police decision to confiscate her son's legal firearm during the first call, believing it left him defenseless when the attackers returned a short time later.
Following the homicide, the Michigan State Police took the lead in the investigation, looking for potential connections between King's death and other recent violence in the area, including a quadruple shooting that had occurred the previous night. despite the active inquiries and the specific circumstances of the double shooting at the residence, public reports from the time did not identify any named suspects or announce any arrests in connection with the murder of Burnis King. The case remained an open investigation as detectives sought information to identify those responsible for the coordinated attacks on the household.
