Detroit activist to seek residents' help identifying suspect in panhandler slaying

Detroit — A city activist plans to knock on doors Monday to help police find the gunman who reportedly killed a homeless panhandler Sunday morning outside a west-side gas station.

Malik Shabazz, founder of the Detroit New Black Panther Nation/New Marcus Garvey Movement. said at 5:15 p.m. Monday he will lead a group through the neighborhood around Dexter and Collingwood, near a Clark gas station where the fatal shooting happened.

"This homeless man's life matters, too," said Shabazz, who identified the victim as 43-year-old Denez Dupree, and said he spoke with his family. "The man who shot him is a predator who deserves to be brought to justice."

Shabazz often peppers Detroit neighborhoods with Crime Stoppers of Michigan flyers, asking residents to help identify crime suspects. Shabazz called the homeless man's killing, "a disgrace, a crime without mercy or humanity.

"(The gunman) had apparently given (the victim) some money, only to turn around and shoot him," Shabazz said.

Police described the suspect as a 5'9 male, who was last seen wearing a puffer

jacket with a hoodie, black pants and black shoes. He carried an Adidas black-and-brown backpack with a neon yellow zipper.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Detroit Police Homicide Section at (313) 596-2555, or Crime Stoppers of Michigan at (800) SPEAK-UP.