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Mother shot, killed during armed robbery at Wyoming gas station

Posted at 8:05 AM, May 21, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-21 08:07:05-04

WYOMING, Mich. -- A mother of four is dead following a shooting at the Marathon gas station near the intersection of 28th Street and Buchanan Avenue in Wyoming Monday morning.

When officers arrived on the scene, they tell FOX 17, they found a employee shot and killed.  Loved ones identify her as Shannon Schoen and describe her as a loving mother and friend. The station will not reopen until Tuesday.

Family members say Schoen, 48, was robbed at that same gas station 4 times and every time she was able to fight them off. They also confirm that she was a mother of three daughters and one son.

They've also started a GofundMe accountto help with funeral expenses.

Police described  the suspect, Willie Martin Bryant, 33,  as a black male, 6 feet tall with a slim build. He was reportedly wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and fled in an early 2000s white Cadillac.  Police arrested Bryant in the McDonald's parking lot on Michigan Street near College Avenue NE late Monday evening.

Police in Grand Rapids later surrounded a home in the 900 block of Franklin following what they said was a high-risk traffic stop in connection to Monday morning's shooting.  In a press release, they say the driver was taken into custody but say the suspect in the shooting wasn't in the vehicle, adding they had reason to believe the suspect jumped out prior to the traffic stop and entered a nearby home.

The home was surrounded by police, the GRPD Major Case Team, Special Response Team and Crisis Negotiator Team for nearly seven hours.  At one point, two people exited the home as instructed and were secured without incident. Around 5 p.m., officials entered the home with search warrant but say nobody else was inside.

That stretch of Franklin Street has since reopened to traffic.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Wyoming Police Department at 616-530-7300 or Silent Observer at 616-774-2345.