A young man facing murder charges in Michigan appeared in court Friday over a fatal shooting that police said began as a dispute outside a school about who could play an informal game of soccer. The case has touched a wider community as two schools in Grand Rapids were temporarily closed this week while residents tried to process the violence from Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Police said the shooting happened after Martinez-Lopez’ younger brother asked to join a group of children playing soccer and was turned down, and that Martinez-Lopez then shot Jeremiah Griffin-Cuevas, the teenager who died. Officers also said Savanah Rubio, 38, was shot and killed while trying to help Griffin-Cuevas during the same incident.
At the court appearance on Friday, Martinez-Lopez acknowledged the murder and other charges, AP reported. The judge ordered him to remain in jail without bond.
In a court filing, Grand Rapids police said Martinez-Lopez tried to shoot at another child but the weapon didn’t go off, adding to the account of how the dispute escalated. His attorney, Craig Jenison, told reporters that Martinez-Lopez had no criminal record, and a message seeking additional comment from Jenison was not immediately returned.
Grief has also centered on statements from Griffin-Cuevas’ mother, Mildred Griffin. She told WOOD-TV that she has not been able to recover what she described as something taken from her, saying, “Somebody stole from me, and that’s something I can’t get back,” AP reported. Griffin also said she knew what she had been raising in her son, telling WOOD-TV: “Youth group every Wednesday, church every Sunday as a 15-year-old young man,” and “I know what I was raising, a young man, not no young thug.”
Griffin also spoke about Rubio’s role in trying to help her son. She told AP that Rubio “gave her life to save my son,” and that Griffin said her son considered Rubio to be “auntie.”
For now, the case remains in the criminal-justice process, with Martinez-Lopez held in jail as prosecutors pursue the murder charges stemming from the school dispute.