In Grand Rapids, a laundromat owner, Jose Guadalupe Morin, aged 71, has been sentenced for shooting a teenager over a theft incident. According to FOX 17, Judge Christina Mims ordered Morin to serve 60 days in jail and a subsequent two years of probation for the careless discharge of a firearm causing injury—a reduced sentence as a result of a plea deal.
On the day of the incident, September 12, 2023, Morin had been accused of firing at a 16-year-old attempting to steal cigarillos from the Oakdale Laundromat on Kalamazoo Avenue. The adolescent, hit in the back, was critically injured but survived. Initially, Morin faced charges of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, but as WZZM13 reported, the plea agreement Morin accepted dismissed the most severe charge in favor of lesser charges of careless discharge of a firearm causing injury and aggravated assault. Going beyond just a simple property crime, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker stressed that "Somebody tried to steal stuff from the store, but that's very different than a robbery...a simple shoplifting, does not justify the use of deadly force."
Moreover, it was brought to the court's attention by prosecutors that the teen wishes to stay out of the same courtroom as Morin, conveying through them the lingering effects of the injury, likely long-term, as noted in WOODTV. The prosecutor's statement revealed "He still suffers the after-effects of the injuries — perhaps that might be very long term, if not lifelong — indicating that there is, at the very least, fragments of the bullets still in his body."
Morin's defense emphasized his lack of prior criminal history and presented letters from the community that attested to his positive character. "Everybody speaks highly of him, looks up to him as he is a valued member of the community in a very helpful manner to neighbors," his attorney told the court. Judge Mims, however, criticized Morin's decision to shoot the teenager over an item of "nominal value," stating in her address to Morin that "However, we cannot have store owners just shooting children for stealing things. Taking the law into your own hands was, obviously, not only ill-advised, but you could’ve killed him." Morin's family did not offer comments to News 8 following the sentencing, as per WOODTV.
