by P.D. Lesko

Court records show that in Mar. 2023, 14A District Court Magistrate Elisha V. Fink issued a bench warrant for Tamar L.L. Young. Young had been charged with a felony weapons crime in Aug. 2022. On June 29, 2023, 19-year-old Young was charged with open murder in the deaths of two people. Sixteen-year-old Dallas Williams and 20-year-old Tyrese Burks died as a result of their injuries. Also injured in the June 27, 2023 quadruple shooting/double homicide were Carter Williams, 14 and Travis Williams, 19. In the six months between the issuance of the warrant and the June 2023 double homicide/quadruple shooting, neither the Sheriff’s Dept. or the Ypsilanti Police arrested Tamar Young.

Along with an outstanding bench warrant, the young man had a job at an Ypsilanti business, a LinkedIn page, a presence on social media and a publicly available home address. For months, Tamar L.L. Young hid in plain sight under the noses of the County Sheriff and the Chief of the Ypsilanti Police Dept.

At his June 2023 arraignment on charges of open murder, Young was also charged with the single felony weapons charge from Aug. 10, 2022.

Court records related to that single charge in Aug. 2022 (carrying a concealed weapon), show that County Prosecutor Eli Savit’s office took half a year to decide whether to authorize charges. Savit did so on Feb. 24, 2023. Yet, after a bench warrant for Young’s arrest was issued by a local magistrate in March 2023, the County Sheriff’s Dept. and Ypsilanti Police did not arrest him.

In April 2023, a month after the warrant for Young was issued, Sheriff Jerry Clayton appeared before the Washtenaw County Democrats to lead a panel discussion about how to curb community violence. Among those on the panel were Prosecutor Eli Savit, Chair of the Washtenaw County Commissioners Justin Hodge, and two felons. The felons (murderer on parole Billy Cole, and Bryan Foley) are “leaders” of Supreme Felons, Inc. That non-profit is a front group funded with public money. Documents shared with A2Indy show Supreme Felons, Inc. is in reality controlled by Sheriff Dept. employees Derrick Jackson and Marvin Gundy.

After the June 2023 double homicide/quadruple shooting, the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Dept. released a public statement which said that Tamar Young, the alleged shooter, “has a criminal history that includes weapons offense.” [sic]

The Sheriff’s Dept. public statement did not mention the existence of the 2022 bench warrant. The statement also did not mention the fact the Sheriff’s Dept. and Ypsilanti Police had months before Young’s alleged quadruple shooting/double homicide to arrest him, but had failed to do so.

By not using readily available social media posts and other public data to find and detain 19-year-old Tamar L.L. Young, critics claim the County Sheriff and the Ypsilanti Police Dept. played a direct role in the deaths of the two young men Tamar Young now stands accused of killing.

“It’s crazy how inept and corrupt the Sheriff’s Dept. has become,” said a former law enforcement official with knowledge of the situation. “Those two, poor murdered boys should still be sitting at their mamas’ dinner tables.”

Other current and former employees of the Sheriff’s department attributed lapses by the Sheriff, such as the failure to detain Tamar Young before he allegedly murdered two people, to the fact that since 2016 Sheriff Jerry Clayton has been primarily engaged with leading his own multi-million dollar company called The Cardinal Group II.

Sheriff Clayton was asked about the impact running his own multi-million dollar business has had on his ability to lead the Sheriff’s Dept. He has not yet responded.

The Role Local Law Enforcement Played in a Double Homicide

On Aug. 10, 2022, Tamar L. L. Young, then 18-years-old, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon—a felony weapons charge punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $2,500 fine. Court records show it took half a year, until Feb. 24, 2023, for the Washtenaw County Prosecutor to authorize charges against Young. On March 1, 2023, charges were authorized and a bench warrant for Tamar Young’s arrest was signed by District Court 14A Magistrate Elisha V. Fink. Court records show that on Mar. 31, 2023, Young never showed up to be fingerprinted.

A bench warrant is initiated by a judge when individuals don’t show up for court dates, pay fees, or comply with court orders. An arrest warrant is initiated by a law enforcement officer. An arrest warrant is a written judicial order issued against an alleged perpetrator of a crime in response to a charge filed against them by either law enforcement or the victim of a crime. To issue an arrest warrant, a judge must find probable cause that the individual charged has committed the crime.

When there is an active bench or arrest warrant, police are charged with finding and detaining the individual.

Why it took six months for the County Prosecutor’s office to authorize charges against Young could be chalked up to inefficiency or an effort to deliberate carefully. However, the six month gap becomes difficult to explain in light of the arrest, prosecution and adjudication of charges against a second young man arrested for the same felony (plus other charges) weeks after Tamar Young.

After Young was charged with carrying a concealed weapon in Aug. 2022, on Sept. 18, 2022 EMU basketball star Emoni Bates was charged with:

1. Carrying a concealed weapon (felony)
2. Carrying a weapon with a filed/altered serial number (felony and a federal offense)
3. Carrying a loaded firearm (misdemeanor)

On Oct. 6, 2022, Bates was arraigned then released on a $5,000 PR bond.

On Oct. 13, 2022 Bates’s case was adjudicated and he was reinstated to the basketball team just in time for the season opener.

Sources within the 14A District Court where Young was arraigned on open murder charges and for the Aug. 10, 2022 weapons charge said that in Washtenaw County, the Sheriff’s Dept. waits for individuals with bench warrants to “come into contact with police.” The Sheriff’s Dept. does not typically seek out such individuals and arrest them, even if an individual is charged with weapons crimes.

Sheriff Clayton was asked whether waiting for individuals with active warrants, including those being prosecuted for violent crimes and weapons felonies to “come into contact with the police” is, in fact, the policy of his department. He has not yet responded.

In the case of 19-year-old Tamar L.L. Young, the next time he came “into contact with police” was when U.S. Marshals arrested him for allegedly gunning down four young men, killing two of them.