Asian Man in Ypsilanti Michigan Shoots Six Year Old Black Boy: Gets Low Bond And Is Released

Do you remember when you were six years old? Do you remember playing outside with your friends, siblings, and other relatives? Maybe you liked to jump rope. Maybe you liked to play hopscotch and drew multicolored squares on the sidewalk. 

Maybe you played tag. Maybe you played red rover or dodgeball or stickball. Maybe you played with dolls and had tea parties. Maybe you picked flowers. Maybe you played with legos or blocks. Maybe you even rode your bicycle or tricycle. 

Chances are, no matter what you did, you likely got on some adult's nerves at some point in time. But the chances are also very good that no adult ever physically assaulted you or tried to shoot and kill you over your play. Unfortunately a six year Black boy named Coby Daniel can no longer make that statement.

YPSILANTI, Mich. (FOX 2) - An Ypsilanti boy is recovering after being threatened with a sledgehammer and then shot as he retrieved his bike from his neighbor's front yard. Arnold Daniel says his kids were outside on their bikes on Candlewood Lane in Ypsilanti when they stopped their bikes and left one of them in front of a neighbor's home. 

When Coby went back to get his bike, Daniel said the neighbor came out with a sledgehammer in his hand and said something to the boy. Daniel said he didn't know exactly what was said but knows his son said something back. After that, the neighbor went back inside and Daniel said he shot a gun through the front window, hitting Coby in the arm.

Ring doorbell footage captured children screaming and scattering down the sidewalk of a residential street after a single gunshot is heard.
“He tried hitting me with a sledgehammer but that’s not going to work because I’m too fast,” Coby Daniel told Fox 2. “[Then he] got a gun and BOOM shot me right here.”

The bullet went through the boy's arm and he was rushed to the hospital. Daniel said the doctor told him that had the bullet been an inch in either direction it likely would have killed Coby. 

The young boy is home from the hospital and expected to be okay. According to Daniel, they've had issues with the neighbor in the past including one time where he saw the neighbor trying to throw one of his child's bikes away.
The Washtenaw County Sheriff arrested the neighbor, who was identified as Ryan Le-Nguyen. He was charged with assault with intent to murder. Three days later, he was released on a $10,000 bond. 

Daniel is angry and confused. Ryan Le-Nguyen is back in custody after his bail was increased to $100,000 during a hearing Thursday, Eli Savit, Washtenaw County prosecuting attorney told USA TODAY.

So, do I know for a fact that Nguyen is a frothing racist or that the (white) female magistrate who initially gave Nguyen an extremely low bail is a bigot who gets off on dead babies? Well not yet. And that's not really the point. The point is that it's virtually unthinkable that a Black man who tried to assault and murder a six year old white or Asian boy would have gotten low (any) bail. 

I do find it "interesting" that this story did not initially get a lot of national attention. So far no one in the media has done a deep dive into Nguyen's family and personal life looking for other examples of his violent nature or racist beliefs. What sort of scumbag shoots a six year old child? Ryan Le Nguyen, that's who. 

I have yet to see or hear any local or national Asian-American political leaders or media personalities speak out on this case. If the races were reversed every Black political leader or activist would be compelled to go to the microphone and talk about #StopAsianHate.

Ok. No one should hate anyone on the basis of skin color. That is true. But let's have that same energy when Black boys are the victims. Right now that concern is missing. It doesn't fit the media narrative. 

No one knows how they would react if their minor child or relative was shot and almost killed. But I definitely wouldn't be talking about how I was scared for my family. I probably wouldn't be doing much talking at all. The justice system gave a very strong signal via the original laughably low bail that it doesn't value the lives of Black boys. 

The only answer to that injustice is to demonstrate to Mr. Nguyen that his actions have unpleasant and permanent consequences. Someone tries to kill your child? Someone needs to go. And hopefully his fate will be an object lesson to everyone else. 

Too many people believe, correctly, that there is little to no cost to harming Black children. Black people need to change that calculus. No one else is going to do it. Think about when you were six years old. What would your parents do if a neighbor chased you with a sledgehammer and shot you?