Prosecutor ties June deaths of two Lansing teens to gang retaliation

Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane said two fatal shootings near Lansing parks in June were being investigated as retaliatory violence linked to street groups, with victims aged 15 and 19.

Nineteen-year-old Lovaya Rodriguez was shot June 5 near Frances Park on Moores River Drive and died about a week later. On June 29, around 3:30 a.m., 15-year-old Deron James was fatally shot near St. Joseph Park; a 20-year-old woman was also wounded. Dewane said more than 100 shell casings were recovered from the St. Joseph Park scene, which he said was the most a crime scene investigator on the case had ever collected.

Dewane described the groups involved as "hybrid gangs" that lack the organized structure, hierarchy or profit motive of traditional gangs, with some members as young as 14. He said the conflicts are rooted more in neighborhood identity than criminal enterprise, and disputes often start on social media before escalating to gunfire.

Lansing Police said the St. Joseph Park case remains an open investigation with no charges filed. After the shooting, city leaders outlined a summer response plan that included increased enforcement near the city's parks.

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