GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Several guns are confiscated and two people are arrested after a graduation ceremony of a Grand Rapids alternative high school last Thursday.
Chief Eric Winstrom with the Grand Rapids Police Department says it happened outside of Calvary Church, where Linked Learning held its graduation.
Winstrom says an officer at the ceremony noticed a group of people wearing masks were acting strange. He says the group rarely paid attention to the ceremony and didn’t even clap.
After the ceremony, the group was seen getting into one car, then getting out of that car and into another car with a duffle bag.
That’s when an officer decided to make a traffic stop.
During that stop, two people ran and were caught with four guns; an AR-15, a handgun and two other firearms.
The two, Shyon Armstrong and Anthony Laster, were arrested and charged with carrying concealed weapons and resisting and obstructing police.
Chief Winstrom says while the group's intentions are unknown because that officer didn't wait to find out, he could have saved someone's life.
“Too many times we've heard of these examples of active shooter incidents, especially affiliated with schools, where someone will say that before that incident happened, that they saw something suspicious and no one called 911 on it. So, having that GRPD Sergeant there and noticing this suspicious activity. Is it possible that he stopped something that could have been a tragic shooting? Absolutely,” said Winstrom.
Details on this case come after three people were shot over the weekend in Grand Rapids. One victim was as young as 15.
Even with the violence over the weekend, Winstrom says the city is still a safer city compared to others.
“It is a city of over 200,000 people. And will there be crime? Yes, we want to keep it at an absolute minimum. I mean, downtown Grand Rapids compared to a downtown of a lot of other cities compared to our size, statistically so much safer than other places,” he said.
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