Two people were shot near Rosa Parks Circle following the annual Fourth of July fireworks in downtown Grand Rapids, prompting police to evacuate that area for a brief period of time.
Around 11: 30 p.m., two girls began fighting at Rosa Parks Circle, and witnesses said the fighters knocked over an elderly woman, who hit her head.
As the fight moved across Monroe Center, several more people joined in. Shots rang out in a parking lot, striking a teenager and a man in his 20s in the leg.
One man was taken to Spectrum Butterworth in a personal vehicle, while the other man was taken by ambulance. Both men are expected to recover.
One of the victims was aided by two different people, Justin Johnson and Michelle Gingrich.
“We belted his leg to try and stop the bleeding,” Johnson said, while Gingrich took off her sweatshirt to plug the wound.
The fight “was chaos, just chaos,” she told 24 Hour News 8. “It was like a riot in the streets.”
Tommy Dee took cell phone video of the events and shared them with 24 Hour News 8. ( You can watch that video to the left, inside this story.)
In previous years, about 150,000 people came downtown for the fireworks and festivities. This year’s crowd was likely larger, as a concert with We Three Kings at Rosa Parks Circle and a parade were added.
The concert was canceled after the shooting. Portions of Pearl Street and the Monroe Center were closed for a short period of time, but were re-opened before midnight.
Though police are concerned about the shooting, they say downtown is a safe place for people to be.
Another shooting around the same time happened in the 700 block of Morris SE. A young man was shot in the leg and suffered non-life threatening injuries.
A GRPD official told 24 Hour News 8 he believes the same group is responsible for both shootings.
