Charges issued against juvenile in shooting outside Alger Middle

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A juvenile is being charged with shooting and injuring his friend — also a student — outside Alger Middle School in Grand Rapids two months ago.

The juvenile faces charges of careless discharge of a firearm causing injury and larceny of a firearm, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker announced Friday.

The case is being handled in juvenile court, with Becker saying the defendant is too young under state law to be tried in the adult system. The names of defendants in juvenile court are not public. A juvenile case also means a conviction would not result in any time behind bars, the prosecutor said.

“The whole theory of the juvenile system is to rehabilitate. That’s the idea. That’s why they don’t face the penalty of going to prison, of going to jail,” Becker told News 8. “It could be educational. It could be just simple counseling. … They try to tailor it to whatever that juvenile needs.”

He explained the juvenile system will also look into what’s going on in the defendant’s family and offer resources to support the child.

The shooting happened around noon on May 21 at the Alger Park splash pad next to the Alger Middle building. An eighth grader named Javeon Childrey was shot in the face, near the ear. His mother recently told News 8 that the 13-year-old is doing OK.

Police described the shooting as “accidental.” Javeon’s mother previously said that the boy’s friend, another eighth grader, shot him — though she doesn’t think he meant to.

“He was just playing. Yeah, he pointed the gun and shot him, but I don’t think that he actually knew how it was going to go down — especially if he ran behind him (to get help),” Bianca Bridgeforth, Javeon’s mom, told News 8 the day after the shooting. “I don’t think it was actually purposely, purposely, ’cause don’t no kid got that much hate in him, I hope.”

Becker told News 8 the gun used in the shooting was stolen from a car.

“It was actually stolen relatively recently,” the prosecutor said. “That actually got the police involved.”

Javeon and the other boy ran back to the school after he was shot. School security and police officers responded quickly. In a statement, Becker praised the emergency response to the school and a “thorough” investigation by the Grand Rapids Police Department.

“This was a very serious incident,” Becker wrote. “(I)t is extremely fortunate there was no loss of life, and as with any incident involving guns and a school, we have done everything we can under the law to hold those accountable for breaking the law.”

Grand Rapids Public Schools has not explained publicly how the two students got out of the school building in the middle of the day. Some parents have criticized the district in the wake of the shooting, saying it’s not doing enough to give them answers about what happened.

“Most people would have communicated by now: ‘Here’s what we know, here’s what we want to know, here’s what we’ll never be able to share if we do find it out; we’re doing our best.’ We don’t get that attitude from this group,” parent Lucas Leverett said.

Leverett — whose son attends City High, not Alger Middle — argued it demonstrates a wider lack of transparency and security from GRPS.

“The reason the Alger event fires me up is that it’s officially as close as we can get to tragedy,” he said. “It doesn’t matter that it’s not my school, it’s not even my quadrant of the city. It’s one more piece of proof that this school system doesn’t have the right people having the right kinds of conversations and doing the right things to keep people safe.”

News 8 sought an interview with district leadership for comment, but it was not granted. In a statement, GRPS Chief of Staff and Executive Director of Public Safety and School Security Larry Johnson said the district added alarms to doors at Alger Middle following the shooting and was still considering when to use metal detectors there.

“Thanks to our dedicated staff and the safety protocols that we have in place, our schools remain among the safest places in our community for our children,” the statement said. “We strive every day to create places that support our scholars’ emotional, behavioral, mental, and physical health.”

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