GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — A youth who was turned away from an unofficial football game in Michigan shot a 14-year-old boy and killed a woman who tried to help the victim, all in the presence of other children, police said.
“There were at least seven or eight children here, juveniles, older juveniles who witnessed this, which is a very horrific thing for anyone to witness, let alone juveniles,” said Joe Trigg, Grand Rapids’ interim police chief.
The shooting happened Tuesday evening near Southwest Elementary School. Classes were canceled there on Wednesday and at another nearby school.
The children were playing soccer when an 18-year-old asked to be included, Trigg said.
“For whatever reason, it was rejected,” Trigg told WOOD-TV. “I didn’t like the fact that he was being pushed away, so a verbal altercation began, which resulted in the suspect pulling out a firearm and shooting that juvenile. The adult female had come to the juvenile victim’s aid verbally, so she was targeted.”
Police said the suspect fled but was caught and arrested.
The Grand Rapids School District closed two schools Wednesday so the community can “address what happened in our district.”