'I just hope justice will be served': Family of slain Detroit man seeks community tips

Detroit — One month after Leroy Mitchell was shot and killed his friends and family are still waiting for justice.

Over 45 people attended a prayer vigil for Mitchell, 34, on Saturday morning just blocks away from where he was fatally shot, in hopes that community members with information about the incident will come forward to Crime Stoppers of Michigan.

Mitchell was found in his vehicle on the 2000 block of Mcpherson near Goddard Street on March 6 with multiple gunshot wounds, according to Crime Stoppers of Michigan. The incident occurred around 1 a.m. and Mitchell's family said he was shot 11 times.

Friends and family gathered in Davison, a neighborhood on the city's east side, less than a mile from where Mitchell was shot and the house that he grew up in. Mitchell was the youngest of four and his mother, Janice Mitchell, described him as a "bundle of joy."

"He would light the room up, everybody loved him. He was a lovable person," Janice Mitchell said. "I just hope justice will be served for my baby because ... it shouldn't have happened."

Mitchell and his siblings were born and raised in the Davison community, his oldest sister Lisa Brooks said.

"It has gone down over the years but we are here to take back our community," Brooks said. "It has just really rocked us to our core and as a sister and as a former resident of this community, I just want to do whatever I can to build it back up. There's been too many tragedies."

If the person responsible for her brother's murder faced justice it would help Brooks find peace and closure, she said.

The crowd joined hands for an emotional prayer circle and several people led the group in prayer including Yolanda Stinson, a Detroit Police chaplain in the homicide unit. 11-year-old Raphiell Hill, Mitchell's great nephew, delivered a sermon that brought many to tears. He said his uncle was the jokester in his life.

"If I'm having a bad day, he could just say something that's gonna get me started. ... He just used to come to the house, we used to just talk and have fun," Hill said. "I just love my uncle anyway he's a good person in general. He's just a good spirit to be around."

Mitchell is survived by his eight children and a fiancee, Brooks said. His other sister Janis Mitchell said he was involved in every one of his children's lives and was always full of life.

"(I) always want to remember him as being loving," Janis Mitchell said. "It's hard to know that you're going to have to go through life without someone, so it's like a new normal... being without him."

Brooks asked the community to help bring the people responsible for her brother's death to justice. Friends and family put up Crime Stoppers posters with information about the crime and how to report tips around the community after the prayer vigil. Crime Stoppers is currently offering a cash reward of up to $2,500 for information on Mitchell's killing and members of the community response team were present at the vigil.

"We're just here to ask some people to come forward because we know that someone has seen something," Brooks said. "We wanted them to know how Crime Stoppers works for someone to give a tip to help solve this murder of my brother."

Anyone with information can report it anonymously to Crime Stoppers of Michigan at 1-800-speakup. Janis Mitchell hopes that people will see that her brother was loved and come forward if they have any information about his killing.

"I would want justice for someone else, that I would pray that justice be served for someone else," Mitchell said. "I just pray that they do what's right."

hmackay@detroitnews.com