GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Willieruth Marshall said she was at church when she got a disturbing phone call.
“I get this call that my grandson got shot,” Marshall said.
Her grandson is 27-year-old Michael Marshall. Police said he was riding his bike when he was shot in the stomach near the intersection of Fuller and Logan, on the city’s southeast side. It happened around 12:15 p.m.
“Witnesses indicated that they’d heard four to five gunshots, and a tan SUV leaving the scene southbound,” Sergeant Steve LaBrecque, with the Grand Rapids Police Department said.
It was a drive-by, and it occurred in broad daylight while a church service was taking place kiddy corner to the shooting.
“What happened, what he do to get shot?” the elder Marshall questioned.
It’s not clear why her grandson was the target or who would be so brazen to pull the trigger. Police said the victim was taken to the hospital with injuries that weren’t severe.
Willieruth Marshall said he’s doing well.
“I’m gonna ask him questions when I get down there, but I don’t know if I’m going to get any answers,” she said. “He won’t tell me too much of nothing,” she added. “He always says, ‘Everything okay granny, alright, everything okay granny.'”
Just hours before her grandson was shot, another shooting took place just 3 miles away in the 1900 block of Jefferson Avenue.
Officers said there were multiple shots fired around 2:20 am. A man was hit in the arm. At this point police don’t believe the shootings are related, but it’s too common an occurrence.
“We would rather not have these kinds of incidents at all. But the people that are involved, they need to change some behavior. We do not need innocent people being involved in these kinds of things,” LaBrecque said.
Anyone with information on either shooting is asked to call the Grand Rapids Police Department or Silent Observer at 616-774-2345.
