Socialist streaming service Means TV's Detroit home and office attacked in drive-by shooting

The Detroit-based duo behind Means TV, a socialist streaming service that launched earlier this year, say they were attacked in a drive-by shooting on Saturday. Nobody was hurt.

In a Facebook post, Nick Hayes says the shooting happened around 2 p.m. when a car pulled up in front of their east-side home and fired through their front windows right where his partner Naomi Burton was standing, narrowly missing her.

The two took shelter in the kitchen, and once the shooting stopped, they moved upstairs. At that point, Hayes realized he left his phone downstairs, and went to retrieve it so they could call for help. That's when the car returned and fired another round of shots right where he was standing.

In his post, Hayes said the attack could have been a case of someone targeting the wrong house, but tells Metro Times by phone that they're "not 100% sure it wasn't politically motivated."

"The police did not seem sure about what it was," Hayes says, noting that they've lived in the neighborhood for years and that shootings there are rare. "They were very surprised at the amount of damage, and they were kind of shocked. Even for something that could be a revenge situation, it seemed like it was going hard."

DPD did not immediately return a request for comment.

Officials say that gun violence has increased in Detroit this summer, with homicides rising about 32 percent so far this year and violent crimes up 7.5 percent.

In his post, Hayes says they're not pressing charges.

"We're not interested in pressing charges or providing additional help to police beyond the statements we provided when they first showed up," Hayes wrote. "We don't trust the courts or the police to deliver any type of justice."

He added, "We don't know why we were targeted in this way, and why someone wanted to take our lives but part of being a Socialist is having empathy and love for other people. We forgive whoever did this. We don't know their motives, or what led to the decision to shoot up our home and we shouldn't make assumptions."

The group says that some Means TV service will be disrupted while they recover and relocate. They're also taking the opportunity to raise money for Detroit Will Breathe, the leaders of Detroit's police brutality protests.

"We're just happy to be fine," Burton tells Metro Times.

You can read the full post below.

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