Aiyana Stanley-Jones: 7 years old 

Favorite song: “Baby” by Justin Bieber 

Favorite color: pink

Aiyana Mo'Nay Stanley-Jones, a seven-year-old girl, was shot in the head while she was sleeping in the living room while her grandmother watched television. Just after midnight on May 16, 2010, members of the Detroit Police Department’s Special Response Team broke down the unlocked door of the lower unit where Aiyana and her grandmother lived and threw a flash bang grenade through a window.  

The grenade landed so close to Aiyana that it burned her blanket, and a single shot was fired by the lead officer in a manner of seconds. Police statements after the event were contradictory, first claiming that the officer believed Aiyana’s grandmother was reaching for a gun, then that she brushed the officer’s gun as she ran past the door, though she was lying on the far side of the couch away from the door. The suspect the police were looking for did not live in the lower unit where Aiyana and her grandmother lived, but in the unit right above.  

A high-ranking police official speaking on the condition of anonymity told press that “I’m worried they went Hollywood…It is not protocol. In all my years in the department, I’ve never used a flash-bang in a case like this.” During the raid, the Special Response Team was being filmed by A&E for an episode of their true crime series The First 48. Following two trials that resulted in hung juries, the officer will not be retried.  

In 2019, the city of Detroit settled with Aiyana Stanley-Jones’ family for $8.25 million.