LANSING, Mich. – Police believe “some, if not all” the victims of a mass shooting in Lansing early Monday, May 27, were unintended targets.
The shooting killed a 17-year-old boy and injured six others in Rotary Park just before 3 a.m. Police said the shooting was an isolated incident and the result of two groups who had a long-standing feud.
When police arrived at the scene, they said they found a large crowd -- estimated to be 50-100 people -- and seven people who were injured. The victims range in age between 16 and 20 years old. The 17-year-old was rushed to a hospital where they died, while a 16-year-old and a 20-year-old remain in critical condition. The other four victims are expected to survive.
“We believe that some, if not all of the victims, were unintended targets,” said Assistant Police Chief Robert Backus. “It was the result of people firing into the crowds without any regard to the lives of other people in the large crowd there.”
Backus said it was just a social gathering and that most people had nothing to do with the incident.
“This is another example of people showing up with no accountability and no care of consequences firing cowardly into a group of people with no intended target,” said Police Chief Ellery Sosebee. “If they did have an intended target, maybe they hit them, maybe they didn’t, but this is how people get hit and injured in mass numbers.”
In response to the incident, Sosebee said the Lansing Police Department will increase patrols at parks and other gathering spaces over the summer.
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Police said multiple firearms were used in the shooting. A gun from the scene has been recovered, but police said it was not used in the shooting.
Public and private surveillance cameras in the area captured some of the incident, but authorities are asking anyone who may have their own footage to reach out to the Lansing Police Department.
Due to the size of the crowds at Rotary Park and the hospital, police said there are more witnesses who have not come forward.
“We are calling on those people, more specifically we’re calling on the parents who have information, who knew their children that were there,” Backus said.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information or who has footage of the incident is urged to contact the Lansing Police Department at 517-483-4600.