GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The suspect in a Wyoming homicide and Grand Rapids shooting was arrested at a McDonald's along Grand Rapids' Medical Mile Monday night, police say.
Police found Willie Bryant Jr. at the fast food restaurant on Michigan Street NE west of College Avenue shortly after 9 p.m. An employee said Bryant was next in line to order when officers came in with guns drawn and surrounded him.
"The police ran up in here like, 'Put your hands up!' And I threw my hands up because I was shocked, so I just threw my hands up right along with him," the worker, Lynbasia Broyles, said. "He threw his hands up and he was cooperating."
Employees did not know who tipped off police that Bryant was at the store. Broyles said she didn't notice anything unusual about him before police arrived.
A sign on the door of the McDonald's said it would be closed from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
An undated file mug shot of Willie Bryant Jr.Bryant Jr., 33, is believed to have shot and killed 48-year-old gas station clerk Shannon Schoen Monday morning. He also faces three charges, including attempted murder, for allegedly shooting and critically injuring a woman in Grand Rapids' Baxter neighborhood Sunday afternoon.
SHOOTING AT GAS STATION
The shooting that killed Schoen happened around 6 a.m. Monday at the Marathon gas station at the intersection of 28th Street and Buchanan Avenue. The owner of the gas station said he was working when the gunman — who he said he didn't recognize — came in. Police originally said the victim was the only person inside.
The owner said the gunman shot Schoen then turned to him, asking him for "everything he has." The owner said he didn't have anything on him. That's when the gunman turned back to Schoen, fired another shot and left, according to the owner.
He said he panicked, ran outside and flagged down a passing driver, who pulled into the gas station. That driver told 24 Hour News 8 she went into the store, found an employee with a gunshot wound and called 911. The owner said he remembered he had his cellphone in his pocket after flagging down the passerby and also called 911.
Authorities on scene at the Marathon gas station in Wyoming Monday, May 21, 2018.The gas station owner added later that it didn't appear anything had been stolen.
The shooter got away in a car driven by another person. Cameras in and outside the store captured what happened, including images of the getaway car, described as a white Cadillac from the early 2000s.
The suspected getaway driver has been arrested and charges are pending, the Wyoming Department of Public Safety says, but police are also looking for a second apparent accomplice, an unidentified man last seen in a blue jacket, light-colored striped shirt and khaki pants. They provided two surveillance images of him in the hopes that the public could help identify him.
These surveillance images provided by Wyoming police show a man believed to be an accomplice in the homicide of Shannon Schoen, who was shot and killed at a gas station on the morning of May 21, 2018.Anyone with information about where the accomplice may be or with other information about either shooting is asked to call Wyoming police at 616.530.7300, GRPD at 616.456.3400 or Silent Observer at 616.774.2345.