DETROIT — The mother of a Detroit woman shot and killed while dancing with an off-duty police officer questioned Monday why he would carry a loaded gun at a party in his own backyard.
Police said Adaisha Miller was dancing with the officer Sunday when she hugged him from behind. His gun, which was in a waist holster, went off, and the bullet punctured Miller’s lung and hit her heart. She died at a hospital.
At a news conference Monday, Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee described Miller’s death as a tragic, “unfathomable” accident.
“Somehow, in the course of dancing with the individual to his rear and touching his waist, his Detroit Police Department-issued weapon discharged, striking Ms. Miller,” Godbee said. “There is absolutely no indication that the officer placed his hand on his weapon at all.”
Godbee implied that contact from Miller appeared to have caused the gun to go off, but he stopped short of saying she pulled the trigger on the .40-caliber handgun.
The officer, 38-year-old Isaac Parrish, has been placed on desk duty while the case is investigated. There was no answer at his home Monday afternoon.
Miller’s mother, Yolanda McNair, said her daughter would have turned 25 on Monday and she was celebrating the weekend before her birthday. Miller was invited to the Saturday night fish fry at Parrish’s home by friends who knew him, her mother said.
“Why do you need a gun at your own house? Why do you need a gun at your own party?” McNair asked. She said she would be watching the police investigation closely.
“She didn’t do anything wrong,” McNair said. “She told us she was going to a party.”
