Slain teen's mom:retaliation not answer

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The mother of a teenager shot to death when he opened the door of his Grand Rapids home said "this is definitely gang violence," but "retaliation ain't the answer."

Around 7:50 p.m. Tuesday, Greg Woods Jr. opened the door of his house in the 700 block of Neland Avenue SE and was immediately shot. He died at a nearby hospital a few hours later.

That house was also riddled with bullets on Sunday, just two days before the 18-year-old was killed.

In an interview with 24 Hour News 8, his mother -- who asked that she not be identified by name -- admitted her son was in a gang.

"I know my son was with Bemis, I'm not going to lie, I'm not going to sugarcoat nothing. I know my son was with Bemis," she said. "No, my son was not perfect. I know the things that he did. But a parent can only tell their child so many times, they are going to do what they want to do, all you can do is just pray and pray."

She said she doesn't know exactly who shot her son, but knows one thing for sure.

"Whoever did this is the same people that eat with us. They slept with our son at our same house. They drank the same drink my son did.  Whatever my son did, they did it with him at our house and y'all want to kill him.

"I don't know if this is over a female, or over clothing, or because (the gangs) are claiming all these different blocks. Forget claiming some blocks. Don't nobody own no block. People pay rent to live where they want to live."

The shooting happened quickly but was not without warning.

"When he opened the door all we heard was five or six shots. My son tried to shut the door, they shot through the door.  He said, 'Mom, come on, I'm hit."

She also thinks her son's killing was planned and he was targeted.

"Yes, I think it was a set up. We had a strange visitor at our house yesterday (the day he was shot,)" she said. "I'm tired of this.  They've been sending threats on Twitter. They've been sending threats on phones. ... You can't go shooting through people's houses. You don't know who is in their house. You could be shooting innocent people. I could see if my son was out there shooting up people."

The gangs are the problem, she told 24 Hour News 8.

"You've got the 7 crew, you've got Neland, you've got all of these gangs. It's just beef, beef, beef, beef. Retaliation ain't the answer. I definitely don't want to deal with retaliation because I don't want nobody else's parent to go through what I'm going through.  I've been through this."

And she just wants all the shootings and violence to stop.

"It's terrible. I'm tired of it. I have a grandbaby in this house. ... I'm just tired of it, and it's time for it to end."

Grand Rapids Police Chief Kevin Belk told 24 Hour News 8 h e does not think the Tuesday night shooting is a sign that there's a major gang feud in the city. The people involved may have gang affiliation, but the violence was most likely he result of specific incidents between individuals, he said.

"That it's not truly a turf issue, but there's a conflict over a relationship issue, a girl issue, a prior fight or assault at some other location," said Belk. "Other history of conflict between individuals."