Two killed near Albion park

ALBION, Mich. (WOOD) - The suspect in Sunday's fatal shooting of two young men at a city park is not from Albion, police said Monday.

"We think that somebody brought something here from someplace else," Albion Police Chief Eric D. Miller told 24 Hour News 8.

The two victims are 20-year-old Henry Randy Williams and 28-year-old Ryan Ray Erwin. Both men lived in Battle Creek.

Police had not made any arrests in the shooting at Holland Park, Miller said. The Calhoun County Major Crimes Task Force was working on the investigation. A neighbor reported as many as 12 gunshots.

Investigators were releasing few details of the shooting, which occurred just before 7 p.m. The two victims may have been at the park to watch a summer basketball tournament sponsored by a group known as Friends & Family Inc., Miller said.

Police responded to the park on the city's west side after people in the area reported hearing several shots fired. The victims died at the scene.

Emergency vehicles staged in the Bethel Baptist Church parking lot at 523 Washington St. Investigators said they had marked that area off as their "inner perimeter."

Michael Hedgecorth, who lives across from the park, told 24 Hour News 8 he heard, "Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, and then there was a real quiet moment, and then it just went bam, bam, bam, bam, bam again. It was probably about 10 to 12 shots."

The homicides are the city's first of the year, but violence tied to Battle Creek has grown this year.

So far this year, many of the eight homicides in Battle Creek have involved relatives, not just gang members and others randomly shooting up rivals and neighbors, police have said.

In Battle Creek, the JONAH group is holding a stop-the-violence meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at First United Methodist Church. Earlier this month, a JONAH-sponsored march against violence drew 100 people.

In Albion, police said they do not frequently get called for problems at Holland Park, but one neighbor said he sees fights there regularly.

"Mothers Day, they all rammed into each other and started fighting," said Hedgecorth. "Last night there were two girls down there beating each others' brains out and then yesterday, that same day, some guy jumped out of the van and he wanted to fight another guy. There's always trouble up here."

"I would like to not live here," Hedgecorth said, "but I have no where else to go."

Police said no suspects were in custody. Anyone with information is asked to call Silent Observer at (517) 629-2700.

24 Hour News 8's Leon Hendrix contributed to this report.