KENTWOOD, Mich. — Kent County law enforcement accuse a 21-year-old of gunning down a man attending his young son's birthday party at a Kentwood hotel in March.
The crime is heavily linked to gang activity, according to a probable cause document filed in the case.
Ateivise Jaquez Smith, 21, is facing an open murder, gang membership and a felony firearm charge in the shooting death of 22-year-old Jaquarrie Garrett, of Georgia.
The prosecutor accuses Smith of killing Garrett in the second-story hallway of the Delta Hotel at 3333 28th Street SE on March 4, 2023.
Law enforcement claims Smith is associated with a gang, and a gang-affiliated social media account had been threatening Garrett before the shooting happened.
Detectives also say they have surveillance video from the hotel that shows Smith in a ski mask clutching the front of his waistband moments after the shooting leaving the lobby.
Garrett's family rented two rooms for the child's party, and the festivities were being held in the pool area of the hotel, according to court documents.
Garrett was walking from the pool area to those hotel rooms, and was shot multiple times in the hallway before he made it to those rooms.
An autopsy report found Garrett was shot five times - once in the pelvis, three times in the back and one through the left shoulder.
Crime scene investigators recovered six .40 caliber casings from the hallway.
During an unrelated incident on May 16, Grand Rapids Police were chasing after Smith, and in the process, authorities said he dropped a .40 caliber Glock 23. A Michigan State Police lab linked the firearm to the shooting at the Delta Hotel, and confirmed all six casings recovered from the hotel hallway.
According to online jail records, Smith was booked into the Kent County Jail on July 5.
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