GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Jose Guadalupe Morin has been charged with one count of assault with intent to deal bodily harm less than murder, after he shot a 16-year-old back in September.
FOX 17 spoke with the father of the teen who was shot.
The shooting happened on September 12 at the Oakdale Laundromat. Court papers say the boy was shot for allegedly shoplifting cigarellos.
The boy's father says that's not the full picture.
“A lot of heartaches, pains, struggle, misery,” Eric Davis said, describing the last few weeks for his family.
Davis says his son knows right from wrong, and Davis says he personally doubts that his son was stealing to begin with.
“My child wasn’t raised that way, we didn’t raise him that way. All of the sudden, it’s just put a lot on our family— and not only our family, the community,” Davis said.
Morin is already out on bond. Davis says the charges aren't to his liking.
“I want them investigating him for selling to minors. This can’t be the first time that this has happened,” Davis said.
Eric's son was shot in the back, leaving the store according to court documents. Eric says that even if his son might have done something wrong, he didn't deserve the bullet to the back.
“The picture that they painted of him, that’s not him... That’s not him," Davis said. “Wrong is wrong, but you cannot shoot a person for stealing."
The prosecutor's office agrees with Davis's sentiment, which is why Morin is charged with what could be up to a 10-year felony.
Eric says his son is handling the trauma of being a shooting victim as best he can.
“Scale of 1-10, he’s doing about a 5. The pain keeps coming on. Sometimes he gets scared. He wakes up out of his sleep scared. He feels like somebody is watching him, somebody over him. It did something to him,” Davis said.
Eric says he wants justice for his son.
FOX 17 tried to reach Morin, the owner of the laundromat, at the store— but it appeared to be closed at that time.
