GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A duo of deadly shootings within a month's time of each other is "out of character" for the Baxter neighborhood, says Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom.
"Obviously, I hope it never happens again," Winstrom said on Tuesday in an interview with FOX 17. "I don't think the neighborhood should be known for it and I think most everyone there wants to live in peace."
During the waning hours of the Labor Day weekend, shortly after 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, a man was fatally shot in the southeast Grand Rapids neighborhood on Diamond Avenue near Wealthy Street.
Winstrom says a pair of GRPD officers, on patrol at the time to the north and to the south, heard the gunfire and rushed to the scene.
When they arrived, they discovered a man in his late thirties, unresponsive, who had been shot multiple times. While attempts were made to save his life, he died as a result of his wounds.
As of 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, the victim's name had not been released by GRPD, nor had any suspects been arrested.
"Very alarming," Winstrom said of the shooting, referencing its closeness on the calendar to a separate incident of gun violence in the same neighborhood.
On Sunday, August 10, 38-year-old Randy Campbell was fatally shot near Diamond Avenue and Logan Street.
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Winstrom, who was present at the scenes of both shootings, parked his car in the same spot for each one.
"We were making some real progress as a community, as a city, becoming the very safe place for everyone that we want to be," Winstrom said. "To have a tragic death, literally, on the last day, on the bookend of summer, is disheartening to say the least."
As for a potential connection between the two incidents, the police chief says it's "possible" their proximity is a coincidence but adds his department is looking into whether they were related.
This summer in Grand Rapids, from Memorial Day to Labor Day and including this Tuesday's shooting, five people have died due to gun violence, a slight decline from the average (6.6) of the previous five years.
Gun-related deaths in Grand Rapids (Memorial Day to Labor Day)...
- 2020: 9
- 2021: 5
- 2022: 9
- 2023: 6
- 2024: 4
- 2025: 5
Notably, four people died in three separate shootings in the Baxter neighborhood in 2020 (while two happened during the summer months, killing three, a third happened in the fall, killing one).
These incidents need not define the neighborhood, Wiinstrom says.
"This is out of character," he said. "We want to make sure that moving forward, it stays that way."
