GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A car meet up over the weekend in Grand Rapids wound up with two people shot, the second time this summer such an event resulted in gun violence in the city.
"This is not entertainment," Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom said. "This is an extremely, extremely disrespectful, disruptive and extremely dangerous thing in which to take part."
In a private parking lot near 36th Street and Steel Case Dr SE, "hundreds" of cars and people illegally gathered for the late night meet up, which continued into the early morning hours of Sunday, August 24.
At around 3:30 a.m. that morning, a pair of 18-year-old women at the event were hit by gunfire.
"This was a loss for us, certainly a loss for the community and those two young women who were shot, and for all of the individuals who made a terrible decision to take part in this," said Winstrom, adding he does not believe the women, whose wounds were not life-threatening, were the intended targets of the shooting.
As is often the case, the Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) had been tipped off about the car meet up, though they did not know where it was going to be located or who was putting it together.
"When there are people that are willing to commit crimes, oftentimes they find a way," Winstrom said.
So, when a sports car at the meet up caught fire due to its driver's recklessness, Winstrom says GRPD was not immediately on the scene.
In fact, the department's officers were already "heavily" dedicated to the scene of an earlier shooting on Division Avenue in Grand Rapids.
This meant the Grand Rapids Fire Department, at least for a time, handled the car fire themselves.
"They acted very quickly," Winstrom said. "Even though there was an unruly crowd."
During this time, the shooting happened.
If Grand Rapids police officers had not been on the scene of another shooting, Winstrom says the gun violence at the car meet up "probably" could have been prevented.
"More police does equal lower crime," he said.
Now, his department is searching for who pulled the trigger and who put together the meet up, a gathering that's typically host to stolen cars and illegally-possessed guns.
"How does this still happen? It happens because there are reckless individuals. There are individuals who don't care about the safety and well-being of other people," Winstrom said.
In June, a 23-year-old man was shot during a car meet up at The Shops at CenterPoint in Grand Rapids.
"We nearly are talking about a tragic loss of life," Chief Winstrom told FOX 17 at the time.
READ MORE: GRPD chief discusses dangers after shooting, multiple car meetups over the weekend
In addition to attempts to stop car meet ups before they begin, the GRPD chief says his department will go as far as to sue those who organize them.
"We will seek to hold you accountable. We will seek to take your vehicles from you and certainly will put handcuffs on you," he said.
