GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A shooter has been taken into custody, hours after a man was shot in the leg on Thursday morning.
The man was shot when he heard a knock, and then opened his front door at around 11:30 a.m. in Grand Rapids’ Heritage Hill neighborhood, in one of the apartments within the corner home at 47 Prospect SE. The suspect, who was wearing a hoodie covering his face, walked out of the home then drove off in a silver Hyundai Sonata. Officers said the suspect headed East on Washington SE. After several hours of detective work, police were able to make an arrest.
Officers said the shooting is not random: the victim is a 33-year-old man who most likely knows the shooter. The victim was brought to the hospital and his injury is said to be non-life threatening.
Shortly after the one shot was fired, police cars lined the block. Officers led a few witnesses out of the house for questioning, and you could hear this clanking sound, while investigators worked inside trying to extract the bullet.
Neighbors like Tina Demling, the block's crime watch captain, said she has lived nearby since 1980. She calls the block close-knit and safe.
"Super safe block, everybody knows each other, and if we see anything going wrong we contact each other,” said Demling.
Demling said the home where the shooting happened is a sort of halfway house.
"The (house) is owned by Pine Rest at this point, or run by Pine Rest,” said Demling. “About five years ago we had some problems with it, but they really worked with us to correct the problems. About two weeks ago I noticed a real change in clientele."
In the past, Demling said the men living there were friendly and participated with block activities, but recently she said things changed, and neighbors have reported suspicious activity.
"Men coming out of the house, going to cars for a short amount of time then coming back in; men gathering in the parking lot kind of angry at each other,” said Demling. “So I just called Heritage Hill yesterday and we were going to get on it right away."
As of Thursday evening, police said it is too early to determine if this shooting is at all connected with a shooting that happened Tuesday evening on Grand Rapids' Westside, when a man opened his front door to masked armed men.
