Police Arrest 2 Of 8 Gunmen Involved In Michigan Graduation Shooting

Livonia, MI – Police have arrested two of eight men who were captured on surveillance video at a gunfight outside a Michigan high school graduation on Thursday night.

The incident occurred at about 7:20 p.m. on May 19 just after the graduation ended at East Kentwood High School in Gaines Township, a suburb of Grand Rapids, WOOD reported.

Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young said graduation attendees were taking pictures and walking to their vehicles when a white Hyundai sedan pulled into the parking lot.

Sheriff LaJoye-Young said a window on the car went down, and someone inside the vehicle began shooting into the crowd, WOOD reported.

A group of people who had attended graduation began shooting back and the Hyundai fled.

The people who returned fire then jumped into a white Mercedes and left the parking lot, WOOD reported.

A 16-year-old boy from Texas and a 40-year-old woman from Grand Rapids were shot.

Both victims went to the hospital on their own, according to WOOD.

Sheriff LaJoye-Young said that the teen had been shot in the wrist.

He was treated and released from the hospital, according to WOOD.

The woman was shot in the abdomen and the wrist, according to the sheriff.

She was taken directly into surgery and was listed in critical but stable condition.

The two victims were not related, according to The Detroit News.

The sheriff said the ambush appeared to be targeted, WOOD reported.

“There was a complete disregard for the safety of individuals who are unrelated to this connection to these two groups,” Sheriff LaJoye-Young told reporters.

The sheriff said deputies found the Mercedes in Grand Rapids.

The stolen Hyundai involved in the incident was found abandoned but still running behind a business on Kalamazoo Avenue near 60th Street SE, WOOD reported.

The sheriff said authorities believed the Hyundai might have been involved in other car thefts.

School officials said there were 60 students and countless family and friends at the high school for the graduation ceremony, The Detroit News reported.

Court documents showed that 18-year-olds Shaakir Abdulwahab and Jacqui Hill arrived at high school in the suspect white Mercedes and then they both attended the graduation for Crossroads Alternative High School, WOOD reported.

Hill was the driver of the Mercedes, according to police.

Abdulwahab and Hill were arrested on Friday in Livonia, according to MLive.

Both men were arraigned in 63rd District Court on May 20 on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and having a weapon in a weapons-free school zone.

If convicted, each charge carries a five year sentence, MLive reported.

63rd District Court Judge Sara Smolenski set bond for each of the defendants on at $100,000.

Smolenski ordered that if released on bond, Abdulwahab and Hill must wear GPS tethers, MLive reported.

The Kent County Sheriff’s Office on Monday released surveillance video images of some of the people authorities believe engaged in the gunfight in the high school parking lot.

Police believe a total of eight suspects were involved in the incident, MLive reported.