Witness recounts Saturday’s shooting in Benton Harbor
Two shootings in just over twenty four hours in the city of Benton Harbor this weekend. Police say one man is dead and the other severely wounded, the crime scene locations are less than half a mile apart.
According to officials, on Friday around 7:30 p.m. 30-year-old John Conyers was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Salvation Army on Michigan Street.
Saturday night, Benton Harbor Police say 22-year-old Ronald Hill was shot and injured at the River Terrace Apartments around 11:30.
Sherese Green says she and Hill have been best friends for nearly a decade. She says she was with him last night and witnessed the shooting.
“I was worried for all of our safety, I was worried he was going to bleed out to death,” says Green.
Green says Saturday night they were making a quick stop at Hill’s family member’s apartment. Green waited in her car while Hill went inside.
Green says Hill told her he was met by a man inside the apartment he didn’t know. He was only in the apartment for about a minute when he turned his back and walked out of the door to leave.
“When he walked out he had his back facing the guy. He wasn’t arguing with him, he’s walking out, minding his business, getting ready to come out to the car and he just shot him in his back. If that bullet was any closer to his artery it could have killed him,” says Green.
Police were already on scene at the apartment complex because a 911 caller reported hearing shots fired at another location in the area.
Hill was transported to Lakeland Hospital where he is recovering. According to officials, he is expected to be ok.
Police were able to locate and arrest the suspect. When he is arraigned in court, his name will be released.
With two weekend shootings within less than a half a mile of one another, Green is pleading for her city to put away their guns.
“We need to think of our community. We had a great community at one point and we need to regain that. I think the gun violence needs to stop immediately. We have these kids with a future ahead of them, is this the answer? Is what we want to show them? It’s really sad,” says Green.