Police looking for potential witnesses to murder of 15-year-old girl

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Police are asking for the public’s help in locating several potential witnesses to a murder. La’Kyijah Williams, 15, was shot and killed in downtown Grand Rapids on Saturday, May 18, while riding her scooter.

Since her death, no one has been arrested or publicly named as a suspect.

The incident occurred between two facilities in the city center: a garage and a building near Studio Park.

On Monday, GRPD Police Chief Eric Winstrom released surveillance footage to the media.

“I am calling on the entire city to come together, help us and do what is right,” Chief Winstrom said Monday.

He played a very short video, about six seconds long, showing five young people who were at the scene of the murder on the evening of May 18.

Winstrom estimates the children are just 12 years old.

Grand Rapids Police Department

Grand Rapids Police Department

The footage shows five people walking past a first-floor security camera near 120 Ottawa, about a block from the GRPD station downtown.

The video was recorded immediately after the murder at 11:36 p.m.

“I still don’t think La’Kyijah was the intended target,” he explained Monday.

She says she was shot from a distance, calling her murder “like a coward would kill someone.”

He hopes that the parents or guardians of the young people seen in the surveillance footage will immediately bring their children to talk to detectives.

Winstrom says the children “were literally within touching distance of the murder, they saw what happened, they saw who pulled the trigger.”

“We need adults in Grand Rapids, parents, teachers, to help us identify these individuals, bring them to the police station and talk to us,” Winstrom added.

He explained that detectives would be at the station on Monday evening ready to conduct interviews.

“She was a daughter, a sister,” he said. “La’Kyijah had a lot of people who loved her. … They deserve justice.”

Chief Winstrom explained that investigators are unsure of the children’s relationship to La’Kyijah. He said they “probably could have been friends” with the 15-year-old.

Anyone with information about the fatal shooting or the identities of the five juveniles seen in the surveillance footage is asked to contact GRPD at (616) 456-3400.

Anonymous information can also be provided via Silent Observer.

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