GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Sunday night a 15-year-old boy was gunned down on the southeast side of Grand Rapids. Investigators are now speaking with neighbors in the area, working to find answers.
It was just after 8 p.m. when shots rang out on Umatilla Street, near the intersection of Madison and Hall.
"I was sitting right there in the chair and watching TV,” recalled a man living on Umatilla Tuesday, who wished to remain anonymous.
"All of a sudden, I heard a lot of gunshots.”
Chaos erupted as gunfire hit the sides of homes in the area.
“He got shot and then he dropped,” another witness explained to FOX 17 Monday. “And then another dude came and stood over his body, and he shot him like three, four times.”
Amillier Penn, 15, had been chased down and murdered by a masked gunman.
Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom told FOX 17 that Penn had been playing a game of football with friends in the area when the suspect approached them.
The man living on Umatilla said he knew immediately what was happening outside his home.
"You know the difference between fireworks and gunshots; those were gunshots,” he said Tuesday. “It was, I mean, a lot of shots."
Sitting in his living room, one bullet hit the exterior of his home. Another came through the front door.
"Something flew off my coffee table. … I said, 'What the devil?’" he recounted. "I looked over and saw the bullet came through the door."
The bullet lodged in the side of a coffee table, scattering debris around the room.
"It just knocked the wood off the table onto the side; it went flying to the counter,” he said.
Once the sound of gunfire stopped, he cautiously looked outside.
"I didn't do nothing until I knew everything was over with, then I went to the door and looked out."
Outside, he saw Penn lying in the grass motionless.
"This is terrible for both of the families,” he told FOX 17. “The one that did it and the one that passed away."
The man inside the home narrowly avoiding injury himself, left saddened by the senseless violence.
"It's terrible.”
Shockingly, it was not the first time he has encountered such violence coming into his home.
About seven years ago, a bullet came through his wall during a shootout down the road.
“It was some guy standing down on the corner on Fourth of July,” he explained.
That bullet came through his wall, eventually landing on his staircase.
He is hopeful this is the last time they have to endure such unsettling events in their home.
Neighbors who saw it all happen Sunday night believe the teenager was targeted.
Grand Rapids Police Department Chief Eric Winstrom seems to agree.
“The fact that this young man was with so many others, in that he was shot numerous times, there's a very good chance that he was the target,” he told FOX 17. "We know there's more people with information. Hopefully those people come forward."
Police are urging anyone with information to contact either Grand Rapids police at (616) 456-3380 or to submit anonymous information via Silent Observer at (616) 774-2345 or their website HERE.
Silent Observer is offering a $3,200 reward in exchange for information leading to an arrest.
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