Gun seen by Michigan detective running marathon leads to charges

Editor’s note: The above report originally aired on May 9, 2024.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A man who was arrested after an off-duty detective running the Kalamazoo Marathon said she saw him pull a gun on a woman now faces a federal weapons charge.

Jaeontae Moore, 23, of Kalamazoo, was indicted Tuesday on a federal count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. If convicted, he could spend 15 years in prison.

“This allegation is serious, and the circumstances of the defendant’s arrest are very troubling,” U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said in a Wednesday statement. “Every person, regardless of where they live, deserves to live their life and enjoy their community free from the fear of gunfire – especially at an event like the Kalamazoo Marathon that brings so many people together around a love of running.”

On May 5, Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Detective Ondreya Anderson was running the half-marathon at the Ziegler Kalamazoo Marathon when she said she saw a man and woman arguing a in a parked car . The man behind the wheel was “beating on the dashboard,” Anderson told News 8 earlier this year. She said as she got closer to the car, she saw the man pull out a gun and the woman scream for help.

That’s when she “just immediately, without even realizing, went from citizen to police officer,” she said.

She flagged down an on-duty officer working crowd control and they tried to arrest the man, but he took off. Anderson stayed with the woman while her fellow officers took off after the suspect.

Body camera video released by KDPS in May shows officers using a dog to track the man, eventually finding him hiding under some canoes and arresting him.

Online state prison records show Moore was on parole following an armed robbery conviction out of Kalamazoo County.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said he had a loaded handgun. Federal court documents say it was a .380-caliber Ruger LCP semiautomatic pistol; he was ordered to forfeit that gun and four round of ammunition to authorities.

Court records show Moore is being held at the Kalamazoo County Jail on a $50,000 bond, also facing nine state-level charges including assaulting, resisting or obstructing police and other weapons and drug counts. He was ordered to stand trial on those charges June 4.

KDPS Chief Dave Boysen praised Anderson’s dedication and commitment to keeping the community safe.

“Instead of continuing with the marathon that (Anderson) had worked and trained so hard for, she called herself to duty,” he said in a statement. “Thanks to her quick actions, no one was injured.”

Anderson did return to the race after she knew everyone was safe, finishing with a time of 2:31.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is cracking down on gun violence as part of its second “Safe Summer” campaign. Aimed at deterring gun violence, which tends to increase during the summer, the office is taking over prosecution of cases if they fit criteria for federal charges.

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