In the early hours of a Sunday morning in Detroit, on August 15, 2010, the promising life of 20-year-old Darryle Miller was tragically cut short. A graduate of Northwestern High School, where he had been a standout basketball player, Miller was a student at Tiffin University in Ohio and a doting father to a young daughter.
On the night he was killed, Miller was leaving a downtown nightclub at the corner of Fort Street and Cass Avenue with friends at approximately 2 a.m.
The group was approached from behind by an armed man who demanded Miller's Cartier sunglasses. When Miller and his friends attempted to flee, the assailant pursued him. After catching up to him, the man took the glasses and then shot Miller.
The killing was immediately decried as a senseless act of violence. Miller's family and friends remembered him as a talented and hardworking young man who was dedicated to his daughter and his education. His mother, Rose Ford, spoke of her son's work ethic, stating that he had saved up to buy the expensive sunglasses himself. Just weeks before his death, Miller had expressed concerns to his former basketball coach about the violence in Detroit and his desire to leave the city.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Detroit police launched an investigation, and Crime Stoppers of Michigan offered a cash reward of up to $2,500 for any information that would lead to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for Darryle Miller's murder. Despite these efforts and the public pleas for information, no arrests in the case have been publicly announced, and the identity of the suspect remains unknown. The case stands as a tragic example of the city's ongoing struggles with violent crime.
