WYOMING, Mich. – Two cousins with extensive criminal backgrounds were arraigned today on multiple charges, including felony murder, for Monday's armed robbery and deadly shooting at a Wyoming gas station.
Authorities say 33-year-old Willie Martin Bryant shot a clerk twice before fleeing in a white Cadillac DeVille driven by his cousin, 58-year-old Gary Anthony Bryant.
The pair were arrested at separate locations hours after Monday’s 6:09 a.m. robbery at the Marathon station at 28th Street and Buchanan Avenue SW. Store clerk Shannon Marie Rozanski-Schoen, 48, was pronounced dead at the scene.
They appeared for video arraignment Thursday, May 24 in Wyoming District Court. They are being held without bond in the Kent County Jail. A probable cause conference has been set for June 6.
Gary Bryant is charged with felony murder; Willie Bryant is charged with felony murder, open murder, armed robbery and felony use of a firearm.
Both are charged as habitual offenders for numerous prior felony convictions.
Willie Bryant is identified on video robbing the Marathon station, 205 28th Street SW, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday in Wyoming District Court.
“Using a handgun, Willie Bryant demands cash from employees inside the business while pointing the weapon at both of them,’’ Wyoming officer Robert Robinson wrote in the probable cause affidavit. “Bryant is on video shooting Shannon Rozanski-Schoen two times. He then flees on foot to Gary Bryant’s vehicle.’’
Gary Bryant is the registered owner of a white Cadillac found on Franklin Street near Eastern Avenue SE. He was arrested without incident.
Police surrounded a home on Franklin on the belief Willie Bryant was inside. When officers entered the home several hours later, he was nowhere to be found.
Grand Rapids police arrested him without incident Monday evening in the lobby of a McDonald’s restaurant on Michigan Street near College Avenue NE.
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