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A Michigan judge raised the bond of a man accused of shooting a 6-year-old Black boy in the arm while the boy picked up his bike in the front yard.
Ryan Le-Nguyen is back in police custody and his bond was raised from $10,000 to $100,000 by a Washtenaw County judge on Thursday (June 10) after community members protested his initial release.
Le-Nguyen is accused of shooting Coby Daniel on Sunday (June 6) as Daniel was getting his bike from Le-Nguyen's front yard. According to Fox 2 News Detroit, Coby’s father, Arnold Daniel, said the kids left a bike in a front yard while playing. When Coby came back to get his bike, Arnold Daniel said Le-Nguyen came outside with a sledgehammer and said something to the 6-year-old before going back inside and shooting a gun from inside the house.
“He tried hitting me with a sledgehammer but that’s not going to work because I’m too fast,” Coby told the outlet. “[Then he] got a gun and BOOM shot me right here,” he added. Colby was shot through the arm. After being rushed to the hospital, doctors said had the bullet gone an inch in either direction, it would have most likely killed the boy.
County prosecutor Eli Savit told the outlet that Le-Nguyen admitted to firing the weapon but not to shooting it at a specific person. The accused shooter’s bail increase comes months after Savit and other law enforcement officials reportedly promised to reform the cash bail system.
“I’ve been consistent since day one that I agree with the premise on reform around bail. That your ability to pay or not to pay a dollar amount shouldn’t be the determining factor on whether you stay incarcerated through the adjudication process,” Sheriff Jerry Clayton told the outlet.
He added however that a person’s threat to the community, like Le-Nguyen’s case, should determine bail sentences. Prosecutors argued that Le-Nguyen is a serious threat to the community and especially children.
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