MUSKEGON, Mich. — The Muskegon Police Department confirmed Thursday that they have arrested two individuals in connection to the shooting death of a 24-year-old Muskegon woman.
Destiny Villas was shot and killed on Monday, in what police are calling a targeted incident.
Police say they have arrested a 17-year-old man from Muskegon Heights and a 21-year-old man from Muskegon Heights within the last several days on “related charges.”
Police didn't provide many details other than more charges are expected and the two are expected to be arraigned sometime later Thursday.
Villas' family identified her earlier this week and said that she was a loving mother.
"Very loving, very stronghearted," said her brother, DeShawn. "But very quiet. Very quiet. Didn't go out. Didn't do nothing wrong."
The family told 13 OYS Thursday that it still lacked the money necessary to give Villas a proper burial, asking friends and neighbors to pitch-in.
Monetary donations toward the cost may be sent directly to the funeral home, Ever Rest Funeral Home and Cremation Chapel at 1783 E Keating Ave., Muskegon, MI 49442 or by phone at (231) 777-3557.
"The gun violence injuries that we're seeing in Muskegon County are heartbreaking," Dr. Brian Stork related via Zoom Thursday. "They're preventable."
Stork is a University of Michigan urologist with more experience treating gunshot wounds than he'd like.
"That's not something that most neurologists do on a regular basis," Stork noted. "I got interested in... the root cause of these injuries and perhaps, what we could do to try to prevent them in the future."
Looking into the scope of gun violence in Muskegon County, Dr. Stork’s findings over a roughly six-year period led to the implementation of a cutting-edge prevention program now in use at Trinity Health Muskegon Hospital.
Pioneered by the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center in Ann Arbor, Safer Teens is a simple screening given to young people who are admitted in hopes of heading-off future violent encounters before they occur.
"I think it's a failure of our society," he said. "We can only control what we can control. I feel like this is a failure of our community and I feel like healthcare needs to be a very important part of the community effort to try to address and prevent this violence."
Anyone with information on this shooting is asked to contact the Muskegon Police Department at 231-724-6750 or Silent Observer at 231-722-7463.
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