GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A teenage boy is in custody early Tuesday morning, for his alleged involvement in a shooting that left two others injured.
Police arrived overnight at the Northlake Village Co-Op on Northlake Drive to take the teen into custody. After repeated failed attempts, a lengthy standoff ensued. After a while, the boy’s mother came out, unaware that police considered her son a suspect. An 11-year-old girl also safely exited the residence. Eventually, the teen was taken into custody. Police described the boy’s mother as being shocked and disappointed.
This all comes after two teens were shot behind the Coin Laundry on Plainfield near 4 Mile Road in what police are calling a Craigslist deal that went bad.
Police tell us the two teenage victims were shot in the back and leg while meeting with the suspect to sell a phone they posted an ad for on the site.
Sabrina Hoffman was across the street when it happened. She described the incident as “mass chaos,” and said 10 or 12 cop cars surrounded the area.
A waitress at the restaurant next door says cars in the back parking lot where the shooting happened have been broken into before.
She says she saw the suspect before the shooting.
“I was out back having a cigarette and I just saw a young gentlemen, probably 14, just walk through the parking lot.” She said. “He was coming out of the woods, talking on his cell phone. He wasn’t in any hurry; he didn’t look suspicious.”
Prior to Tuesday morning’s arrest, police had been searching for a 14 to 15-year-old boy in connection to the shooting. At the scene of the standoff, police recovered evidence that was directly related to the incident. They say they caught up with him through good old-fashioned police work.
We will be sure to keep you posted on this developing situation. Anyone with additional information should call the Kent County Sheriff’s Department at (616) 632-6100 or Silent Observer at (616) 774-2345.
