Aggravated Assault Alert Goes Out; No Injuries Reported

Michigan State University (MSU) students and staff received an alert notification around 1 a.m. on Sunday (Oct. 29) from the university and the Michigan State University Police Department (MSUPD) with a timely warning for aggravated assault. 

The synopsis of the alert said, “At approximately 12:12am on 10/29/2023, an aggravated assault was reported to have occurred near Grand River Avenue and Charles Street, in East Lansing. During an assault between two parties, a suspect fired a weapon and was believed to flee west and possibly north. No injuries were reported.”

Lieutenant Adrian Ojerio, who has worked for the East Lansing Police Department (ELPD) for 23 years, told ELi the department received a complaint about the situation and described it as a “reckless discharge of a firearm.”

“The circumstances that surround that incident was that there was some sort of verbal altercation on Grand River near Charles and at some point during that verbal altercation, a person that was around that area pulled out a handgun and discharged it,” Ojerio said.

This is an ongoing investigation and, as ELPD is following up on leads and is canvassing the area for videos and witnesses, the department requests that anybody who has any information on the incident contact ELPD’s Detective Bureau. 

With the City of East Lansing sharing the downtown area with many college students, ELPD reminds all community members to take safety precautions. 

ELPD did not receive complaints of destroyed or stolen pumpkins this year.

Concerns about increased conflicts downtown surrounding student celebrations of Halloween often involve verbal altercations and malicious destruction of property reports (MDOPs). In previous years, many community members have reported the destruction or stealing of their homemade jack-o-lanterns. 

Ojerio said this year ELPD did not receive any complaints about such destruction or thefts.

“During the whole month of October, we only had 14 malicious destruction of property reports,” Ojero said. “And none of those were pumpkins.”

“Do pumpkins get smashed? Yes, they do,” he said. “It is rather unfortunate, especially in a neighborhood where there are children, not necessarily a student neighborhood, because people kinda pour their hearts, souls, and time into their pumpkins. Fortunately, this year, nobody has necessarily reported that and I think we’re seeing less of an instance of that.”

Destruction of property is still an issue in East Lansing.

Although there have been no reports on destruction of pumpkins, destruction of property is still an issue in the city. 

“Obviously, we still see instances of people maybe drinking or consuming too much alcohol and they make poor judgements,” Ojerio said. “We still have MDOPs of other properties. And a prime example of that is what we posted on our social media of the two white males tipping over the street lamps that are downtown that are illuminated and there for safety, and they damaged that.”

ELPD is also requesting any information on this investigation as well. 

Following up on the concerns of community members, ELPD is increasing safety measures. 

“On the weekends, on every weekend, we have extra staffing to accommodate additional call volume,” Ojerio said. 

“For all of our Halloween events that we have worked, we have had officers in on overtime to make sure that the community is safe,” Ojerio said. “We have additional officers on staff that will be out in the neighborhoods, making sure people are driving appropriately and making sure that the little kiddos are safe in their travel as they try to get the good stuff. We accommodate for that and we know that that’s a priority for us.”

ELPD has recently initiated online crime reporting where community members can report more minor incidents to the department. Those non-emergency crimes can still be reported to ELPD over the phone at (517) 351-4220, for those who prefer to call. 

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