Charging teenagers as adults is a subject that has caused a great deal of debate and controversy in Michigan in recent years. In this recent Kent County, MI case, a Grand Rapids teen is being charged as an adult for his role in a drive-by shooting that injured two others, one of whom was a 4-year-old girl.
16-year-old Louis Curry has a relatively extensive criminal history beginning when he was 10. His arrest record includes a number of different crimes, like curfew violations, malicious destruction of a building, larceny, and possession of analogue drugs. His arrest record, which began six years ago, includes a total of nine Michigan arrests in 2016, and two additional arrests thus far this year.
According to police in Kent County, Curry and two others were involved in the shooting. The other two, 17-year-old Dereontae Masson Foster and 16-year-old Elijah Eric Alridge, have also been arrested. Witnesses to the shooting provided police with descriptions of the vehicle involved – a dark colored SUV, and officers began searching the area.
Three hours later Grand Rapids police were alerted to a stolen vehicle on the other side of the city that matched the description. When officers approached the vehicle, three people leaped out and fled the scene. They were pursued on foot by the police. One was captured immediately and arrested but the other two got away.
They engaged in stand-off with police that lasted for hours
Officers were able to chase the two fleeing suspects but the pair holed up inside a house on Pine Street, where they engaged in a stand-off with police officers that lasted for hours. Finally one at a time, the pair gave themselves up and were taken into custody.
Curry is being charged as an adult under Michigan’s Automatic Waiver Law which allows a prosecutor to charge a teenager between the age of 15 and 17 as an adult if the crime is a serious one. Curry appeared in the Grand Rapids District Court, where Judge Christina Elmore set his bond at $100,000.
Curry has been charged with two counts of assault with intent to murder and single counts of being an accessory after the fact to a felony and felony use of a firearm. These are extremely serious crimes under Michigan law and if convicted, Curry is looking at a possible life sentence in prison. Felony firearm carries a mandatory prison sentence of at least two years.
The victims of the drive-by are certain that they were targeted by the shooters. The mother of the 4-year-old girl who was grazed by the bullet says that her whole family was out walking when they heard loud bangs that they thought were fireworks. Then the girl started screaming. The family moved to Grand Rapids from Egypt, which they believe implies that the crime may have been racially motivated.
Grand Rapids Police believe that the family was no more than innocent bystanders. The intended victim they say, was a 17-year-old boy who was riding his bicycle down the street at the time of the shooting. He was struck in the arm by a bullet, which left him injured but not dead.