‘Stand up’: Family seeks tips in Grand Rapids teen’s death

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A family and community are still seeking answers nearly a month after a 15-year-old was shot and killed in broad daylight in Grand Rapids.

On Saturday, the community gathered at Garage Bar and Grill for a celebration to raise money and awareness in the teenagers murder.

Amillier Penn was killed June 2 while playing football with friends on Umatilla Street near Madison Avenue SE in Grand Rapids. More than a month has passed and police say no arrests have been made.

“I just want this face right here. I want people to see my baby. Fifteen years old and had his whole life ahead of him, taken from him, robbed from him for nothing,” Corey Penn, Amillier’s dad, said. “It still feel like the same day. It feels like when I got that phone call when my son was shot. That is what it feels like and it feels like that every single day. But today I feel a large quantity of love.”

The entire community, including the Grand Rapids Police Department, is searching for answers and anyone with information.

“We are fighting against what seems to be a culture amongst the witnesses of a code of silence,” GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom said. “You’ve got a child, a 15-year-old boy, who was playing football. Whatever the history, whatever the motive was, it doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t make sense for adults who were there and who have information not to come forward and do the right thing for Milli.”

The calls for answers and justice continue to grow louder. Bolstered by an anonymous $5,000 donation, Silent Observer is offering a reward of $8,200 to anyone with information. The Saturday event also raised money to put toward rewards.

“When there are adult witnesses to the murder of a child in our city, it is absolutely unconscionable that adults in Grand Rapids would not come forward and we need them to do the right thing,” Winstrom said.

Anyone with information about the shooting can call Grand Rapids detectives at 616.456.3380 or Silent Observer at 616.774.2345. Tips can be made anonymously.

“It’s no honor amongst thieves. I can say that, and it runs parallel with this situation because my son was robbed of his life at 15 years old,” Penn said. “So we as a community, as adults, we’ve got to start taking some accountability for the things that we allow. Somebody has got to stand up and set an example.”

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