Youth pastor, shot in head, speaks

GAINES TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - It will take more than a bullet to the head to make MarShon Peoples stop ministering to the youth of his community.

Peoples was trying to protect the 150 teens who were attending the "Streams of Hope" party he was hosting on Jan. 7 when eight other teens arrived.

"One of the young men peeked his head out the door and said 'Coach, make sure you pat them down real good before you let them in," recalled Peoples. "They smelled like alcohol and marijuana."

He denied the eight young men entry. He said that they were persistent -- but so was he. The young men grew angrier and Peoples prepared to call 911.

"I pushed send and then that's when 'boom' happened," said Peoples.

The young men had opened fire, police said. Peoples took a bullet to the head.

"I remember thinking, 'Lord, not like this. Not like this,'" Peoples said. "And then I thought, 'Is this it? Is this how I'm gonna go?' And the lady who was helping me with security at the door -- the pregnant lady -- she was above me and I remember hearing her say 'If he will only breathe, I know he'll be okay.'"

About 25 more shots were fired, witnesses said. No one else was hurt. The young men fled in a white Chevy Impala and a red SUV.

Peoples is doing well.  A simple surgery removed the bullet. And less than a week after being shot in the head, he's home.

"It all just happened so fast and I'm just glad it's over and he's doing better," said MarShon's wife Heavenly Peoples.

Peoples is thankful that he survived.

"I wake up and I think, wow, I've been shot in the head and I'm still here," said Peoples. "It bring brings a smile on one moment. It brings a tear the next moment."

But mostly, Peoples is glad that none of the teens at the event were hurt.

"I think back that out of all those shots, no one else got shot. That brings joy to me," said Peoples. "No parent is crying right now that their son or daughter has been injured or, worse, gone."

Peoples said he doesn't harbor hard feelings toward the young men who opened fire.

"I'm not angry at the young men. I'm more angry at the choice," said Peoples. "They need help and we as a whole have to help them."

Peoples said he doesn't want the young men -- who have yet to be identified and are all still at large -- to go to jail.

"Putting them into a cell with other misguided people is not the answer," he said.

But police are still looking for the shooters. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Kent County Sheriff's Department at 616.632.6100 or Silent Observer at 616.774.2345.