GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — An 18-year-old man who was rebuffed in his request to play in an informal soccer game near a Michigan elementary school fatally shot a teenage boy and a woman who tried to assist the victim, authorities said.
Jeremiah Cuevas-Griffin 15, and Savannah Rubio, 39, were fatally wounded Tuesday after the incident on the property of Southwest Elementary School in Grand Rapids, MLive reported.
Cuevas-Griffin was pronounced dead at the scene, while Rubio died at an area hospital, according to WOOD.
The alleged gunman fled the scene but was later arrested at his residence, the television station reported. His name has not been released.
According to the Grand Rapids Police Department, the shooting occurred at around 6:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday. A group of youths were playing soccer when a man approached and asked to join the game, WOOD reported.
When the youths turned down his request, an argument ensued and the man opened fire, police said.
“There was at least seven or eight kids that are out here, juveniles, older juveniles that witnessed this, which is just horrific for anybody to witness, let alone juveniles,” Joe Trigg, interim police chief in Grand Rapids, said, according to The Associated Press. “For whatever reason, he was turned away.
“Did not like the fact that he was turned away, so a verbal altercation started, which led to the suspect pulling out a firearm and shooting that juvenile. The adult female had come to the aid, verbally, of the juvenile victim, so then she was targeted.”
Authorities initially said that Cuevas-Griffin was 14, but the boy’s mother, Mildred Griffin, clarified that the teen was 15, WOOD reported.
“Somebody stole from me and that’s something I can’t get back,” Griffin told the television station during a Wednesday vigil for the victims. “Youth group every Wednesday, church every Sunday, as a 15-year-old young man. I know what I was raising, a young man, not no (expletive) young thug.”
Community members stopped by the school, which was closed on Wednesday, to pay their respects. Donny Irving, who did not know the victims, told WOOD that he knew other people affected by gun violence.
“It shouldn’t happen like this. I’ve experienced that loss and I know just the pain of walking through everything,” Irving told the television station. “It’s just hard. Everyone knows a youth and people who go to playgrounds who play, school students, and I think the whole community feels the loss that’s there.”
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