Niles Police believe recent string of homicides is connected
NILES. Mich.-- The Niles Police Department confirmed that all three homicides over the course of the last month are related to each other.
The first happened on N. Seventh Street. on Aug. 16, killing Farries Maxwell. Three weeks later, Sept. 8, Ra’Quon D’Angelo Glenn was gunned down just one block away, on N. Sixth Street.
Now, police are saying a third shooting on Sixth Street Tuesday night, killing 15-year-old Demi Galvin and 18-year-old Yasmeen Scott, and sending three others to the hospital, is also directly related.
While some involved are believed to be gang members, police claim, investigators said the string of homicides over the past month, seem to surround a family feud turned violent.
“She was beautiful,” said a friend of Demi Galvin, Madison. ‘She was funny, she had the biggest smile. She was so quick to make a person laugh, even on your worst days.”
Galvin is considered innocent in Tuesday’s tragedy that took her life.
“I see demi as a definition of ‘at the wrong place at the wrong time,’” Madison said.
The Niles Police Operations Captain, Mike Dawson, said Tuesday’s shooting was retaliation from a homicide earlier this month on the same street, killing Ra’Quon D’Angelo Glenn.
“Unfortunately, we have just a bunch of people who are, taking their justice out on the street and retaliating against people for these violent crimes,” Dawson said.
Now investigators need community members to come forward to help solve these crimes.
“We’ve had numerous, numerous witnesses on the first two shootings that probably—we could’ve had these people in jail if they would talk,” Dawson said.
Fortunately, he said more tips are coming in following this most recent shooting, and said it is probably because it cost the lives of two innocent teenagers.
“We have people who have to stop following the street rules and just start to be morally responsible,” he said.
The Niles Police Department is partnering with Michigan State Police to increase police patrols, specifically near the 6th street neighborhood at the center of the shootings.