1 of 2 in Kentwood murder pleads guilty

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - One of the men involved in a January Kentwood shooting that left one man dead has taken a plea deal.

Michael Bockheim, 29, was killed Jan. 15 as he sat in a van in the parking lot of the Arbor Lane apartment complex in Kentwood.

The person with Bockheim at the time of the shooting initially told police he was stopped at a traffic light at Clyde Park Avenue and Burton Street SW in Wyoming when two men, one armed with a handgun, approached him, demanding money and shot Bockheim. But the next day, authorities tracked down the actual crime scene and determined that the shooting was not random.

Vernon Heath, 21, turned himself in to police in March. He pleaded guilty to armed robbery in the Kent County Circuit Court on Monday in connection to the shooting.

In return for the guilty plea, a second charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery was dropped and prosecutors agreed not to bring any additional charges.

Heath will be sentenced Aug. 2.

A second suspect, 19-year-old Charles Allen Brown, is accused of killing Bockheim.

He faces charges of open murder, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, weapons felony firearm and being a habitual offender.

Brown's trial is scheduled to start Aug. 27.