Oxford Township is a nearly all White community outside of the Detroit metro area. The US census bureau reports that it is 92.3% White and 1.2% Black.
Kirby Kendrick, 54, was living at the Abby Ridge Apartment Homes in Oxford Township. He got up at 3:30 AM to go to work. After he got in his car, Marcus Anthony Nathan, 36, walked up to the vehicle and fired a 9 mm handgun multiple times, killing him. Afterwards, he called 911 and turned himself in.
According to police, Kendrick lived nearby and was walking around outside after allegedly receiving an anonymous threatening text message. Kendrick and Nathan had no connection to each other.
Had the races been reversed, this is exactly the kind of story that would be scrutinized by the national media as a possible “racially motivated hate crime.” Politicians would be making public denunciations and there would be Black Lives Matter protests in the area. Instead, this is a minor local media story and the press is calling it mistaken identity.
Kendrick leaves behind a fifteen year old son.
Nathan was charged with open murder and is being held without bond.
