A stolen SUV became a rolling crime scene in East Grand Rapids, and a 16-year-old boy is dead as a result. Around 12:30 a.m., police responded to reports of a man lying unconscious near Lake Drive SE and Plymouth Avenue SE. What they found wasn’t a medical emergency. It was Carhari Walton, shot and left in the middle of the street as traffic continued around him. Witnesses reported that his body had been pushed from a moving SUV.
A Burning SUV Ties the Scene Together
Broken glass and shell casings littered the nearby intersection. This wasn’t random chaos, it was violence that played out inside a vehicle that never should have been on the road in the first place. Minutes later, officers were called to a vehicle fire on Nature Trail Drive SE, where a stolen SUV was burning in a parking lot. Investigators found more shell casings inside, and the vehicle itself had been reported stolen five days earlier.
A Story That Fell Apart Under Scrutiny
Investigators determined Walton had last been seen in that SUV with 21-year-old Dellquan Cartier Willis and another individual. Willis told police he was driving when shots were fired inside the cabin, and initially claimed the group had been shot at from outside the vehicle. According to authorities, that account didn’t hold up against the physical evidence, and Willis later told investigators he was the one who shot Walton.
Willis is already serving time in Marquette Branch Prison for a prior armed robbery conviction and now faces additional murder and felony firearm charges in connection with Walton’s death. As with any pending charge, these allegations still have to be proven in court, regardless of what Willis reportedly told investigators. This wasn’t a high-speed chase or a dramatic standoff. It was a stolen vehicle allegedly used as the setting for a targeted shooting, followed by an apparent attempt to burn away the evidence afterward.