OT-7 dead and a hostage situation in GR.

Submitted by maizenblue92 on

7 people are dead in GR from a shooting. Suspect Rodrick Shonte Dantzler now has 2 hostages in Plainfield. Keep the families in your thoughts and prayers. Info here.

Blue Ninja

July 7th, 2011 at 8:56 PM ^

Tragic to say the least and my prayers go out to the families. That said I was on vacation this week in the area visiting family and came back this morning. Glad to have left when we did, not to say we would have gotten caught up in it but I do take I-96.

 

Hope they get the guy without any further loss of life.

Gobluegr

July 7th, 2011 at 8:59 PM ^

This is scary as hell, apparently he was bi polar and not taking any meds. He mist have just completely snapped. I am actually surprised he only killed 7 people he was driving the wrong way down the highway and he sprayed shots all over.

animals77

July 7th, 2011 at 9:11 PM ^

Hopefully the couple of hostages will get through this with no physical harm done to them.  It is sad to try and ponder what goes through the minds of certain people.

Blue Ninja

July 7th, 2011 at 9:20 PM ^

Just texted my nephew, the guy is not far from his apartment right now and one of the murder scenes is just a few blocks from his apartment. We did just drive through the area this morning, glad it was before this all went down.

 

I used to know a guy just like this. A really nice guy, but he went off his meds for awhile and held up a sandwich shop one day while going to work. unfortunate for him he had on his work uniform and frequented the place quite often.

mgobleu

July 7th, 2011 at 9:26 PM ^

The shot of Division & Fulton reminds me of the shootout scene from the movie Heat, all In sleepy little GR. Feel terrible for the victims and families.

AlwaysBlue

July 7th, 2011 at 9:32 PM ^

I'm a few miles away.  There are all kinds of crime scenes.  It was crazy to hear the cops saying to lock your doors and hearing the reports of him racing through downtown with shots being fired and nobody sure where he was headed. The guy has a long, long record.  Some are reporting he's bipolar and there are also reports of lots of girlfriends and children.  He reportedly shot one of his children and along with another child, the picture of that child's father learning the news is not one I will ever forget. 

NFZ

July 7th, 2011 at 9:59 PM ^

This is terrible. My sister lives in GR and just sent me a text about it, and I just moved back home from GR last week. Hopefully nobody else gets seriously hurt. 

West is Best

July 7th, 2011 at 10:03 PM ^

I was just around the corner from Division and Fulton at Hopcat with a friend when the suspect went through there, although I didn't know he was that close at the time.  Tons of sirens and the State Police helicopter flew by overhead.

Keeping those involved in my thoughts.  I hope this gets resolved soon.  A bad day for the city.

Flying Dutchman

July 7th, 2011 at 10:10 PM ^

There were as many police cars as there were in the OJ chase.  Ironically it was a big white SUV, unfortunately not a Bronco.   

This thing went right by the condo I moved out of earlier this month and is up the block from my cousin's house in a pretty quiet neighborhood.   

WTF.

gater

July 7th, 2011 at 10:24 PM ^

I live downtown and the chase flew past my condo earlier..there were tons of police, both marked and unmarked and the helicopter was right on it too.

MGoRob

July 7th, 2011 at 10:33 PM ^

Not sure if mentioned but police have blocked off 96 eastbound by the river. Not sure if connected but I'm betting it is. Driving back from sleeping bear and put 2 and 2 together while reading the blog. Thanks for the post, we were really confused

AlwaysBlue

July 7th, 2011 at 11:25 PM ^

Sounds like he wants to surrender, no cocktails, no point I guess.  (And that's probably not really funny given what that man did today.)

krag19

July 7th, 2011 at 11:47 PM ^

Not only is it tragic that 7 people are dead over this crazed guy, but this is tragic for the entire city of Grand Rapids. GR looked like it had began to shake the bad rap it had been getting since the Rob Bliss lipdub video. Now people aren't going to want to go back. Unfortunate for the families involved as well as the entire city. My thoughts and prayers go out to those involved in this tragedy.

Louie C

July 8th, 2011 at 1:53 AM ^

Where did this so called bad rap come from, people in the suburbs? When we decided to move here two years ago, our friends and family members were happy for us. I've yet to see anything that would make me regret moving here, and don't think I will because I like it here.

This tragic event was isolated, and could have happened anywhere, so I would hate to see people use this as an excuse to bash this city. That being said, my prayers go out to the victims, and their survivors. The terrible thing is that any insight in to why this happened might have died with the victims and the killer.

SamGoBlue2

July 8th, 2011 at 4:21 AM ^

A guy I work with knew this man and apparently shares some mutual friends. He said that he was a pretty violent guy and was in and out of jail all the time but even then wouldn't suspect him to do something like this. So far it looks as if he killed his estranged wife, daughter, and perhaps his estranged wife's mother, along with two other women, one man, and another child. The guy I work with suspected that perhaps he told his wife that if he ever caught her cheating he would find her and kill her whole family, but like I said, I am only relaying what I have heard and at this point it is all speculation.

Horrible, horrible news and a very sad story indeed. Thoughts and prayers to friends and family of the victims.