KENTWOOD, Mich. — A 17-year-old was shot and killed inside a hotel off 28th Street on Oct. 13. On Monday, a teenage subject was taken into police custody in relation the shooting, though exactly what they will be charged with is still up in the air.
It was about 10:15 p.m. that Friday night when officers with the Kentwood Police Department showed up to the Delta Hotel on 28th Street SE, after receiving a report about a shooting that happened inside.
Officers say they found the 17-year-old victim in a hotel room with a gunshot wound.
They were pronounced dead on scene.
On Monday, they announced they had taken a "juvenile" into custody. No other information about the suspect has been released.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker says his office is still going through evidence in the case to determine what the teen will be charged with, and how.
In Michigan, some teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 can be automatically tried as adults if their case meets certain criteria.
“There's an automatic waiver, which is for the very serious crimes: your murders, your rapes ... carjacking stuff, stuff along those lines,” Becker explained Wednesday.
"We can basically say, 'Okay, this crime is so serious, we can put you in the adult system.'"
Most kids who are tried as adults in Michigan are done so via the traditional waiver process.
As Becker explains, “we can say, judge, look at this person's criminal history; they've done everything in the juvenile system; we've tried to give them treatment; we've tried to rehabilitate them; it hasn't worked."
"Ergo, we should be allowed to put them in the adult system.”
In those cases, a judge has to make that call to try someone as an adult.
The major differences are in the ultimate approach of each — while there are aspects of rehabilitation when an adult goes to prison, it is largely punitive.
For juveniles, the goal is almost always to improve their chances of getting out and living a safe and productive life.
"They're hopefully getting whatever treatment ... substance abuse, could be mental health," Becker said Wednesday. "These places that we're sending them are designed to try and rehabilitate. It's not just simply a prison where we're housing.”
