Dad Holding Sleeping Baby In Hands Fights Off Gunman On Father's Day

Disturbing security footage captures the moment a Michigan man pulled a gun on a father who was holding his sleeping baby at a petrol station in one of the most violent towns in the country.

During the fight at a Detroit petrol station Sunday night, the father reacted swiftly and waved his arms in front of the shooter to seize the weapon.

The suspect exits the store and is later spotted fiddling with a gun in the parking lot. Investigators think that when the father reached for the pistol, it may have jammed.

Police have detained a person of interest in connection with the bizarre footage, which is now a part of a probe for aggravated assault.

Investigators think the father was the target after the father and suspect got into an argument, however, it's unclear what the fight was about or whether the two had met before.

On Sunday at approximately 5.50 p.m., the unidentified suspect entered the petrol station store near the intersection of Hubbell and Tireman Avenues in broad daylight.

The suspect can be seen walking through the parking lot and into the store in a video captured from outside the shop.

He moves past a customer who had just completed pumping gas and makes his way toward the store with a nonthreatening posture that does not indicate what is about to happen.

As he unlocked the shop door, the suspect pulled out a revolver and pointed it at the father. Police suspect that after a disagreement, he followed the father into the store.

When the suspect pulled out a gun, the father, who was holding his sleeping seven-month-old child, was just three feet away.

It's not known exactly when or what the two were arguing about when the claimed argument started.

Early on Monday morning, Detroit police released a video of the event and asked the public for assistance in identifying the culprit.

Police told WXYZ early on Monday evening that they have detained a person of interest. The detainee's identity was kept a secret by the authorities.

A campaign to curb gun violence in the violent city of Detroit was barely weeks old when the incident occurred.

The Detroit neighborhoods with the highest rates of deadly and non-fatal shootings, robberies, and aggravated assaults with firearms are the target of federal and local law enforcement officials' crackdown initiatives.

Felons who are detained and accused of firearms offenses in any of the targeted communities during the summer crackdown, which lasts through Labor Day, will be tried in federal court.

If charged in federal court rather than state court, criminals found guilty of illegally having firearms would face harsher punishments, including up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

Federal prosecutors stated that they would also take into account charging anyone suspected of using a gun to commit a violent or drug-related offense in the targeted locations.

'This strategy is designed to significantly reduce violence by narrowly focusing on those who are committing it and to give these neighborhoods back to the majority of the residents who want to live in peace,' U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison told The Detroit News earlier this month. 

'We are going for the most violent people, the most violent groups, and the most violent places.'

Due to an increase in assaults, shootings, and homicides, the FBI revealed last year that Detroit is among the most dangerous cities in America.

The city reported 2,248.4 violent offenses per 100,000 residents two years ago.

The number of violent offenses in the city increased by 10.25 percent between 2019 and 2020.