Authorities recovered two bodies Tuesday from the rubble of a Detroit medical complex burned to the ground after a shooting apparently the result of a woman's jealous former love interest.
Officers said they discovered a male and female under the wreckage of Park Medical Centers. While police declined to identify the bodies at this time, Antha Williams-Hill told the Associated Press that authorities were searching for her 35-year-old daughter, Sharita Williams, a medical assistant at the office. Detroit police homicide inspector Dwane Blackmon similarly said that one of the missing people police were searching for was believed to be a woman working at the medical center; the other was thought to be the man who started the shooting, he said.
The suspect may have been a recently fired maintenance worker from the medical complex.
Sharita Williams had reportedly been involved in a romantic relationship with the suspected shooter and arsonist, unnamed sources told MyFoxDetroit.com. Antha Williams-Hill said her daughter had been dating a married maintenance worker for more than a year, but had chosen to break off the relationship after things became complicated, and had been seeing someone else. She said the man would not leave Sharita alone, and her daughter was forced to move into the Detroit suburbs to escape him. However, the man persisted even after she left the city, Williams-Hill said.
"He did a lot of stuff and she was trying to get away from him," Williams-Hill said. "She moved to Southfield to get away from him."
Williams had recently been approved for a personal protection order against the maintenance worker, according to Wayne County Court records.
Antha Williams-Hill said someone who worked with her daughter had told her that the suspected gunman had threatened Sharita inside the medical facility.
"He said, 'You think I'm playing with you?'" Williams-Hill said. "He told the other girl, 'I think you better get out of here.' The girl left and said she then heard two shots."
Unidentified sources speaking to MyFoxDetroit.com said the suspect walked in waving a gun, started shooting, took hostages, and eventually released everyone but Sharita.
Two business owners from Park Medical Centers said they had been informed by staff that the suspect was indeed the recently fired maintenance worker.
Police are currently interviewing workers from the building, as well as Williams and the maintenance worker's family members.