Lansing's mid-year homicide total is at a five-year low, but shootings remain an issue

LANSING — Lansing is on a pace to record its lowest homicide total in years.

But the total number of shootings in 2023 is consistent with last year's pace, suggesting luck might have something to do with that.

As of Friday, there had been four fatal shootings and one fatal stabbing in the city this year. One of those shootings is under review as self-defense and may be ruled justifiable, meaning the homicide total would stand at four. That's the city's lowest mid-year total in five years.

But most homicides stem from shootings, and shooting data released by the Lansing Police Department explains why no one is celebrating just yet.

Including non-fatal incidents, there had been 165 shooting incidents in Lansing as of last week, putting the city on a pace for about 330 this year − about 15 more than in 2022. Thirty people were shot but survived in the first half of 2023, compared to 58 people in all of 2022.

Lansing Police Chief Ellery Sosebee said it's unclear why homicides are down.

"I don't really have a good answer for you," Sosebee said. "For 2023, we are down on our homicides but our shots-fired (incidents) are consistent. It's kind of a little baffling."

Sosebee noted that many shootings involve young people who have access to guns but aren't necessarily practiced at using one. And non-fatal shootings can be "just a bad aim away from being a fatality," he said.

"It's just one of those lucky or unlucky shots," he said, adding that police treat non-fatal shootings "just as seriously" as a homicide because they want to break the cycle of retaliation and prevent future shootings from happening.

The city's homicides are among at least 10 so far this year in Greater Lansing, including the three people killed by Anthony McRae in the Feb. 13 mass shooting at Michigan State University. Five other people were shot in that incident but survived.

In Eaton County, a total of four people died in a murder-suicide in Carmel Township in March and another in Dimondale in February. In April, a Delta Township man was found dead in his apartment, and police eventually deemed it a homicide.

Greater Lansing's high-water mark for homicides was 36 in 2021, including 26 in the city of Lansing. Lansing's total fell to 17 in 2022. It was the first time since 2018 that the city's homicide total had fallen from the previous year.

At this time in 2022, there had been eight homicides, and in 2021 there had been 15, Lansing police said. That's around half of the yearly total for those years. But the mid-year numbers don't always prove to be a reliable predictor of what happens in the second half of the year.

In 2020, when 21 people died in homicides, only five homicides had been recorded by late June. And in 2018, when nine homicides were recorded, only two happened in the first half of the year.

2023 killings

Lansing

Makhi Williams, 18, was shot and killed Feb. 5 in the area of Osband and Lenore avenues in south Lansing. Another male teenager was critically injured in connection with the incident but apparently survived.

Two teenagers were charged in connection with the homicide. A 13-year-old boy was charged in juvenile court under a process that would allow for him to be moved into adult court if he doen't progress in treatment. A 17-year-old boy, Keif Chatman, was charged as an adult.

Camrun Thornton, 23, was shot and killed April 7 during an altercation at an apartment complex near the corner of South Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Jolly Road.

That death is under review by the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office. If it's deemed to be self-defense, it won't be included in the city's 2023 homicide total.

Lewis Hill, 48, was shot to death in Reutter Park in downtown Lansing on May 7.

Kelly Tyrone Whitt, 58, and Jacob Floyd Curtis, 24, are charged in connection with his death.

Jeffrey Medina, 41, died after being stabbed during an altercation at an apartment complex in the 3600 block of Wildwood Avenue in Lansing on June 20..

Corey O'Rourke, 33, is charged with open murder in connection with Medina's death. He also is charged with being a felon in possession of ammunition.

Willie Allen, 58, was shot and killed June 25 in the area of East St. Joseph and Cherry streets. Police said the shooting was not random. No arrests had been made.

East Lansing

On Feb. 13, MSU students Arielle Anderson, Brian Fraser and Alexandria Verner were killed in a mass shooting on campus. Five students were critically injured but recovered.

Eaton County

Michigan State Police said an 18-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man died in a murder-suicide Feb. 16 in the 100 block of Cherry Street in Dimondale.

Officials said Jeremy Arthur Wood shot the woman, then left the home and shot himself in a neighbor's yard. Wood was in a relationship with the woman, they said. Her name was not released.

A married couple died in a murder-suicide at a home on Five Point Highway in Carmel Township in March. State police said a 61-year-old man shot and killed his 52-year-old wife and then shot himself. The man was taken to a hospital and later died, they said.

Jose Belester Barrios, 40, was found dead in his apartment in Delta Township on April 18. The Eaton County Sheriff's Office said they were investigating Barrios's death as a homicide.

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing's mid-year-homicide total is at a five-year low