GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — "We are still piecing together the story of what happened," Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom said as he recounted what police had been able to discover about Grand Rapids' weekend violence.
It's a story that, for police, began early Sunday morning in downtown Grand Rapids when they responded to three people having been shot along Cesar Chavez Avenue.
"Three total people were shot in that incident, two of the two of them ended up succumbing to their wounds," Winstrom said.
The third, the chief said, is expected to recover as the investigation continues.
"The investigation is preliminary in nature, but we're confident that we've identified everyone involved," Winstrom said. "And now, it's just a matter of piecing together the story of how these three individuals came to be together, if there was other people involved or not. We're still working on that. But, we think that all shooters have been identified."
Less than 24 hours later, another shooting happened just off of Madison Avenue Sunday night. The victim, police say, was a 15-year-old boy.
"A young boy, 15 years of age, was playing football with friends and he was shot numerous time and killed," Winstrom said. "Tragic incident."
What happened rocked the neighborhood.
"A lot of tears shed, a lot of concern from the community there, from the neighbors there because what they saw was a group of kids who are just out playing ball and, you know, seemingly for no reason, this individual was shot and killed," Winstrom said. "So, we're working on putting together, obviously identifying a suspect, but also coming up with some motive that will make sense and I don't think we're going to find that."
The loss of life and the known circumstances leaving some concerned, as this weekend's events doubled the number of suspected murders in the city so far this year.
While response times have improved in the city, Winstrom said the force is still short for a city this size as they hope to graduate new recruits.
The current force, he said, has 286 officers - down from about 400 in the early 2000's and below the 304 for which they are budgeted. Since the 2000s, the city's population has remained consistent, seeing rapid population growth throughout the 2010s prior to smaller decreases in the 2020's.
"What we need to see more of, I think, is the officers on foot and officers on bicycle, which you'll even see officers on horses over this summer," Winstrom said.
But for Sunday's shootings, police are hoping to move as quickly as possible to determine what happened and get justice.
Police are asking anyone with knowledge of the incidents to contact Grand Rapids police or submit a tip anonymously through Silent Observer.
"This is too important not to do the right thing," Winstrom said.
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