Civil Rights Groups Protest Shooting of Detroit Woman

Killed on porch of home where she apparently went to get help

Civil rights groups protested in Detroit this weekend after a young black woman was shot on the porch of a suburban home earlier this month, as she apparently sought help after she had car trouble.

The woman, Renisha McBride, 19, was fatally shot in the early hours of Nov. 2, the Dearborn Heights police said. 

"She was in a car accident," her uncle Sean McBride, 45, told The New York Times on Sunday. "Her cellphone had died and she went to a house for help. The homeowner said it sounded like she was trying to break in. But how much of a threat can someone be?" 

Cheryl A. Carpenter, a lawyer for the homeowner, who has not been named by the authorities, told The Detroit News that she was "confident when the evidence comes it will show that my client was justified and acted as a reasonable person would who was in fear for his life." Ms. Carpenter did not respond to messages seeking comment late Sunday.