The man accused of shooting a mother in front of her young son during a carjacking at an Orion Township mall this week has been charged, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday.
Mauriel Dashawn Hearn is expected to be arraigned Friday in 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills. Among the charges he faces are assault with intent to murder and carjacking, both of which could punishable by any term of years in prison, including life, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The 25-year-old Ann Arbor resident also faces three felony firearm counts, fleeing a police officer, resisting a police officer, and carrying a concealed weapon.
Investigators contend Hearn was sitting at a table outside Panera Bread, waiting to find someone to carjack. When he saw the woman and her son leave the neighboring Old Navy store, he ran up to them, opened fire and stole her keys as well as her car.
Using FLOCK and information from OnStar, law enforcement located the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop, according to the prosecutor’s office. Hearn allegedly fled, at times reaching speeds topping 100 mph, then hit a guardrail. He jumped out of the vehicle and was later apprehended on foot.
“The victims, a mother and her young child, should never have been placed in this dangerous situation because I believe this defendant should be behind bars for previous crimes,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said in a statement Friday. “My priority is always public safety. As prosecutors, we have a responsibility to protect the public from violent individuals like the defendant in this case. If we lose sight of that, bad things can happen to good people. I look forward to working with law enforcement to hold this defendant accountable and protect our communities.”
On Wednesday, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Hearn had been spared prison time for a prior violent attack on another woman. Hearn was on probation for a charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm stemming from a late 2024 incident in Washtenaw County, Bouchard said.
In that incident, the suspect allegedly constrained a woman using duct tape and hog-tied her to a bed, Bouchard said.
laguilar@detroitnews.com
Staff writer Max Reinhart contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Man charged in Orion Twp. mall carjacking
Reporting by Louis Aguilar, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
