KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Nine members of a group from Benton Harbor seeking to retaliate for a homicide in Kalamazoo were intercepted and arrested by special teams from the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety. Additional arrests were made of Kalamazoo residents.
KDPS described a series of arrests that grew out of information they obtained that a group was planning to travel from Benton Harbor to Kalamazoo to take their revenge for a homicide that took place April 11.
The arrests were made in an operation spearheaded by the KDPS Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team and Crime Reduction Team and assisted by Michigan State Police, Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office, Kalamazoo Township Police, Western Michigan University Police Department, and Portage Public Safety.
The arrests were a series of apprehensions on both sides of the dispute and not all at once. In a release the department said that on Saturday, April 18, at 4 p.m., they caught in a traffic stop a 29-year-old Kalamazoo man who had a stolen handgun and some methamphetamine. At 5:50 p.m., the apprehended a 30-year-old Kalamazoo man who had a loaded AR-style weapon; he was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, possession meth with intent to deliver, and felony firearm related charges. On Sunday, April 19, around 12:30 a.m., officers moved in on three vehicles that had just arrived from Benton Harbor, netting seven subject and three handguns. One vehicle took off, but officers caught up with it and its two occupants, finding a gun in the vehicle.
Then, around 3:30 a.m. Monday morning, April 20, KDPS officers answer a call on gunshots in the 700 block of Howard Street near the campus of Western Michigan University. Police found a loaded handgun and several spent shell casings in a lot and got a description of a suspect from witnesses. They found the 17-year-old suspect in a car later that morning, but he failed to stop. The suspect led police on a pursuit until he deliberately crashed into a KDPS vehicle. A foot chase began but was ended when a K9 unit found the teen hiding under a car. He was arrested on various charges.
Anyone who knows anything in connection with this series of events is asked to contact the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety at 269-488-8911 or anonymously leave information with Silent Observer at 269-343-2100
