Police Investigate SB I-475 Incident

FLINT, MI – Authorities believe a man shot and critically injured in January while driving on I-475, near Stewart Avenue, was not the intended target of the shooter, but was a victim after a case of mistaken identity.

That information came out during testimony provided Friday, Aug. 26, during a preliminary examination in Genesee County District Court.

Donte Allen was shot three times Jan. 18, the results of which have landed him – at least temporarily – in a wheelchair. But police have theorized he was not the intended target of the man they believe to be the shooter, 18-year-old Demetrius Corey McGown.

“My theory is Mr. McGlown intended to shoot somebody that drives a white Chevy Malibu and shot the wrong person,” said D/Tpr. Keith Bieganski of the Flint Major Case Unit, a group of detectives from both the Flint Police Department as well as the Michigan State Police.

Related: Man critically injured after road rage shooting on I-475 in Flint

Following two hours of testimony from Allen and police officers who investigated the shooting, Judge William H. Crawford of the 67th District Court ruled there was enough evidence to support probable cause that McGlown was the shooter and bound him over to circuit court for trial.

McGlown is charged with single counts of assault with intent to murder, gang membership felonies, tampering with evidence, carrying a concealed weapon, and three counts of felony firearm.

Prosecutors began Friday’s hearing by calling Allen to the stand. The victim of the January shooting, Allen testified in court while seated in a wheelchair. The chair is a result of temporary paralysis caused by Allen’s three gunshot wounds sustained on Jan. 18, while he was driving his white Chevrolet Malibu on the highway.

He was shot three times, once through his left wrist, another time on his side, beneath his right arm, and a third time on the right side of his back.

“I don’t know (what happened),” Allen said. “I just woke up in the hospital and people were telling me that.”

After the shooting, Allen, then 28, crashed his vehicle into the center median on the highway.

Detectives with the Flint Major Case Unit responded to the scene and found the vehicle still, crashed into the median. D/Tpr. Jason Baxter testified that when he arrived at the scene, he found 23 9 mm shell casings spread along all three of the southbound lanes of the highway.

Two bullet holes were found in the hood of the vehicle, as well as additional ones in the passenger side door.

Surveillance video taken from a nearby business captured the incident. Shown in court Friday, the video appeared to show a maroon-colored Dodge Charger passing the Malibu, with a passenger leaning out of the vehicle and shooting at the victim’s vehicle.

McGlown was developed as a suspect when authorities received an anonymous tip that the maroon-colored Dodge Charger witnesses described as the suspect vehicle was at a home on Stevenson Street in Flint.

When the vehicle was spotted parked behind the home, a search warrant was authorized. Authorities searched the home, ultimately finding a hole in the foundation in the basement that led to a dirt crawl space where detectives found weapons buried. The weapons, which included two rifles and two 9 mm handguns, were retrieved from the scene.

Video taken from a neighboring home showed the Charger being parked behind the Stevenson Street home, with a person matching the description of the shooter seen in the other video exiting the vehicle.

Ten people were found inside the home when police arrived. They were all arrested and interviewed. Three people have been charged in connection with the shooting, but one person’s charges were dismissed. The other is McGlown’s father, Jermaine Demetrius McGlown.

Prosecutors said Friday they believe additional people will be charged. It is unclear why they are not listed as codefendants with McGlown.

The case remains under investigation and involves multiple gangs, authorities said Friday.

Now that McGlown’s case has been bound over to circuit court, he can either plead as charged, proceed to trial or accept any potential plea agreement offered by prosecutors.

McGlown remains lodged in the Genesee County Jail.

Read more at The Flint Journal:

Flint police investigating fatal hit-and-run

Man seriously injured when hit by car in Lapeer

Flint rapper Cliff Mac charged in murder-for-hire plot

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