LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office says celebratory gunfire killed two people at a New Year’s Eve Party on Sunday.
Deputies were called to a property along 60th Avenue in Lawrence Township around 12:05 am on a report of a two men injured.
Once on scene, they found a 40-year-old man from California dead with a gunshot wound to his head. A 35-year-old man, who lived in Waverly Township, was alive but later died at the hospital.
Deputies arrested a 62-year-old man at the scene for multiple counts of reckless discharge of a firearm causing death.
The initial investigation indicates the victims were setting off fireworks to ring in the new year when the suspect pulled out an AR-15 styled riffle and began to fire in celebration.
“The suspect thought that the fireworks had ended and that there was nobody down there,” said Sgt. Greg Pentland in an interview with FOX17. “He grabbed his riffle, he made a verbal acknowledgment, and then started firing rounds in the direction of where the fireworks had been lit from. Both of the victims were still down there by the fireworks when they were both shot.”
According to Pentland, less than 10 people were at the party and most everyone knew each other.
He notes that the sheriff’s office does not recommend people celebrate with guns and suggests people keep them locked in a safe during events.
“There’s three families that are affected, there’s three lives that are affected forever,” said Pentland. “Once we bring firearms into an environment that’s not controlled with safety people or proper backstops or anything along those lines… there’s too much that could go wrong.”
No names have been released at this time.
Additional charges have not been ruled out.
If you know anything about the shooting, call the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office at 269-657-3101, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-342-7867 or Silent Observer at 269-343-2100.
