Stephen Plitt, 23, was a male from the Downriver area of Metro Detroit who was killed in the early hours of Saturday, March 18, 2017, after a burst of gunfire shattered the quiet on Garfield Avenue in Lincoln Park. In the days after the shooting, grief spread through his family and friends, who remembered someone who talked about wanting a simple, steady future and a home of his own—dreams that suddenly felt cruelly unfinished.
Investigators said the violence unfolded around 3:30 a.m.
in the 1200 block of Garfield Avenue, where two people were shot. Witnesses reported seeing two individuals running from the scene. Both shooting victims were rushed to Detroit Receiving Hospital, but Plitt did not survive. The second victim underwent surgery and was expected to recover, leaving behind a living thread of that night even as Plitt’s loved ones were pushed into the stunned reality of planning a funeral.
Within days, Lincoln Park police identified a suspect and warned the public the person they were seeking was armed and dangerous. The name they released was Lloyd Nathaniel Ray of Inkster, and a warrant process was underway as police asked anyone who spotted the suspect to contact authorities. The case quickly grew beyond a neighborhood investigation, with broader law-enforcement attention and public appeals aimed at putting a name and a face to the shooter.
As the search dragged on, Plitt’s family stepped into the spotlight not for attention, but because silence felt like surrender. His mother and sister spoke about the empty space left behind—an untouched bedroom door, a life that had been moving forward one ordinary day at a time until it was stolen. They pleaded for information and for courage from anyone who knew where the suspect was hiding, hoping that someone, somewhere, would decide that protecting a fugitive wasn’t worth carrying the weight of a family’s pain.
On May 1, 2017, the manhunt ended when Ray turned in at the Lincoln Park Police Department accompanied by legal counsel. Authorities said Ray was responsible not only for Plitt’s death but also for shooting the surviving victim multiple times, turning the case from a desperate search into the slow grind of courtrooms, evidence, and accountability.
Michigan Department of Corrections records later showed the case concluded with a plea that resulted in convictions for manslaughter and felony-firearm tied to the March 18, 2017 shooting. Sentencing was recorded on October 27, 2017, in Wayne County, reflecting a prison term for manslaughter alongside the mandatory felony-firearm penalty. Years later, those same records indicated Ray was released on parole in July 2025, with supervision continuing into 2026—an administrative milestone that could never close the emotional ledger left behind by a single night on Garfield Avenue.
