Three men involved in a Sunday morning shooting at an East Lansing 7-Eleven are expected to be arraigned today, police said.
The men were arrested in connection with the killing of 34-year-old Lansing resident Joseph Lavon Parker and injury of 32-year-old George Edward Whitfield, also of Lansing. Parker and Whitfield were shot at about 2:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the convenience store, 210 Michigan Ave. Police said about 12 rounds were fired from a handgun.
The three suspects, all from Detroit, were apprehended Sunday morning. Police would not release names of the men until their court appearance.
They will be formally charged during individual arraignments today, which are set to take place after 8:30 a.m. in 54-B District Court, East Lansing police Capt. Juli Liebler said.
Liebler said the motive for the killing could be drug-related, and it's believed the five men knew each other.
Earlier that night, the five men had been at the Point After Eatery & Pub in Lansing.
"It started in Lansing and ended up here, probably by chance more than anything," Liebler said. "There's no gated entrance to East Lansing. People come and go as they please."
Lansing police Lt. Bruce Ferguson said because Lansing is a larger city, crime spillover is unavoidable.
"It doesn't matter if they're in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven or if they're in a school parking lot," he said. "It's moving into suburbia, and nobody's going to be exempt from it."
The three suspects left the 7-Eleven parking lot and led police on a chase into Lansing. After the suspect's car hit a curb, causing a flat tire, it struck a pole, and the three men attempted to flee on foot. Two were quickly apprehended, and the third was arrested around 4:15 a.m.
Police later recovered the handgun, which was thrown from the vehicle during the chase.
Numerous eyewitnesses inside the 7-Eleven called for help, and when paramedics arrived, Parker was taken to Lansing's Sparrow Hospital where he was pronounced dead. His autopsy was performed Monday.
Ingham County Medical Examiner Dean Sienko said Parker died from multiple gunshot wounds and the death officially is classified as a homicide.
Whitfield was shot once in the stomach and ran from the scene. He was transported to Sparrow Hospital after residents at an apartment complex on Delta Street called police.
Although officers from Lansing and MSU assisted in apprehending the suspects, the case was turned over to East Lansing officers, who will complete the investigation. As of Monday, East Lansing police had not contacted police in Detroit, where the suspects live.
East Lansing Deputy Police Chief Tom Wibert said he was surprised when he received a phone call around 2:30 a.m. Sunday regarding the incident.
"I'm just as floored as everyone else," Wibert said. "There is that initial shock, but then you've got a job to do."
While at the scene, Wibert said he dealt with initial media questions so other officers could investigate.
On Sunday afternoon, Josh Rosenspire stopped by the 7-Eleven with a friend shortly after police cleared the scene and the store re-opened for business.
About an hour before the shooting, the forestry and political science senior had been at the 7-Eleven with some friends buying cigarettes. He said he was shocked when he finally learned the details of the shooting.
"It puts a touch of reality on the whole situation," said Rosenspire, who lives on Grand River Avenue. "Someone was shot and killed less than a mile from our house."
Christina Bupte, a student teacher at Glencairn Elementary School, said her sixth-grade students could not stop talking about the incident Monday morning.
"I was excited that they were interested in current events, but I explained to them that this is not normal behavior," she said. "I wanted them to understand that this was obviously a tragedy."
Staff writer Sonia Khaleel contributed to this report.
Sarah McEvilly can be reached at mcevilly@msu.edu.
