"I don't know what's going on with him," his mother, who lives in a homeless shelter, told the Detroit Free Press for a story published Saturday. The newspaper withheld the boy's name because of his age, and the mother was not identified.

After the boy fled an unlocked group home last week, he was caught the next morning with two stolen vehicles, police said. The 5-foot-5, 130-pound teen was placed in the custody of juvenile authorities pending a Dec. 8 pretrial hearing.

The boy's first arrest came last December -- four months before he turned 13 -- when he and a 15-year-old suspect were found inside a parked stolen van, court documents show. The 15-year-old told police the two of them had stolen five other cars in the previous three days.

Two weeks later, before the boy could be brought to court, he stole another car, leading police in Detroit and nearby Fernwood on a chase. When a police cruiser blocked the road, the boy stopped, went around the car, and ran a red light before crashing into another vehicle.

A few weeks later, he was caught driving another stolen car, and was sent to a group home. In August, he walked away from it and stole another car. Soon after, he walked away from a low-security juvenile facility and was arrested again while driving a stolen car.

Gun battle wounds grandmother

CHICAGO -- A man used his grandmother as a shield in a shootout with police after forcing her to withdraw money from an ATM at gunpoint, police said. The 68-year-old woman and an officer were wounded.

Marcus Henderson, 22, was charged Saturday with aggravated battery with a firearm, armed robbery and aggravated kidnapping.

Witnesses said Henderson forced his grandmother, Minnie Johnson, into a car at gunpoint Friday. A surveillance camera showed Henderson holding a gun to Johnson's head as she made a withdrawal from a cash machine, police said.

When police arrived at Johnson's apartment, Henderson opened fire from behind his grandmother, wounding officer Kevin Connors in the leg and shoulder, police said. Connors' partner returned fire.

Johnson was shot twice in her left leg and in her left wrist and right ankle. It wasn't known who fired the bullets that hit her, police said. She was listed in stable condition Saturday.

Smoking ban would be the toughest

CHEVY CHASE, Md. -- An outdoor smoking ban under consideration for Friendship Heights would give the Chevy Chase neighborhood the nation's most far-reaching restrictions.

The Village Council is seeking a ban on smoking in all public spaces maintained by the local government. The group Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights said the proposed restrictions are more stringent than those of the roughly 60 jurisdictions nationwide with outdoor smoking bans.

Under the ban, people caught smoking or discarding tobacco products in publicly owned areas in Friendship Heights, a neighborhood of 5,000 in Chevy Chase, would be subject to a $100 fine.

The Montgomery County Council is expected to vote on the measure Dec. 12.

Friendship Heights Mayor Alfred Muller, the man largely responsible for pushing the ban through the Village Council, said the goal was not only to deter smoking but to protect civil rights.

Opponents of the ban said scant evidence exists that smoking outdoors endangered the health of passers-by, and accused Muller of trying to inhibit personal freedom.

"A whiff of smoke in someone's face is not a crime or something we need to worry about," said Cleonice Tavani, the president of the Friendship Heights Village Civic Association. "We do not need to be a police state."

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