A 21-year-old man is dead and a 27-year-old passenger was hurt after gunfire tore through their vehicle before it crashed near North Dort Highway and Schaaf Drive in Genesee Township late Sunday night. What began as a routine call about a single-vehicle crash quickly turned into a homicide investigation once officers realized both men inside the car had been shot.
Genesee Township Police were dispatched around 11:49 p.m. Sunday to a report of a single-vehicle crash near North Dort Highway and Schaaf Drive, according to Cars 108. When officers arrived and located the vehicle, they found that both the driver and passenger had been shot. The 21-year-old driver later died from his injuries, while the 27-year-old passenger was taken for medical treatment. Police have not released the passenger's current condition.
Witnesses told police they heard multiple gunshots immediately before the vehicle crashed, and dispatchers also received reports of people screaming at the scene, per the same account. Investigators are now working to determine what happened before the crash, and police are investigating the incident as a drive-by shooting. Officers have not released what may have led to the shooting or any information about a possible suspect, and the article notes that additional information could be released as investigators continue piecing together what happened.
Police Appeal for Witnesses Along a Busy Commercial Corridor
Genesee Township Police have asked the public to come forward with information and asked witnesses to contact the department directly. North Dort Highway is a major commercial corridor linking Genesee Township directly to the city of Flint and carries high daily traffic volumes between the two municipalities, according to the Charter Township of Genesee. That kind of traffic means the stretch near Schaaf Drive is rarely empty, even late at night, raising the odds that someone in the area saw or heard something useful to investigators.
Anyone with information can also submit anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers of Flint & Genesee County by calling 1-800-422-JAIL (5245) or using the P3 Tips mobile app; tips that lead to a felony arrest are eligible for cash rewards up to $1,000, per Crime Stoppers of Flint & Genesee County. The investigation remains active, and the case is expected to draw on regional resources beyond the township's own force, since major violent crime cases in Genesee Township routinely draw assistance from the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, Michigan State Police, and state forensic crime laboratories, as Hoodline has previously reported.
A Small Department Covering a Sprawling Township
The Charter Township of Genesee spans roughly 28.5 to 30.2 square miles and is home to about 21,500 residents, but it's patrolled by a department of only around 20 full-time sworn officers, according to the Charter Township of Genesee. Chief Phil Hart leads that department, which in July received federal public safety funding alongside other municipal agencies in Genesee County. The staffing reality helps explain why cases like this one lean so heavily on outside forensic and investigative support.
This is not the township's first brush with high-profile gun violence this year. In January, Genesee Township saw another shooting that resulted in attempted murder and felony firearm charges following a multi-agency manhunt, a case Hoodline covered in gunfire, attempted murder rap back in July. Countywide, firearms remain the dominant driver of homicide: Michigan Department of Health and Human Services data shows Genesee County recorded 297 total homicides between 2020 and 2024, with firearms accounting for 246, or 82.8%, of those deaths.
What Michigan Law Says About Drive-By Shootings
If a suspect is identified and charged, Michigan law imposes stiff penalties for gun violence carried out from a vehicle. Under MCL 750.234a, intentionally discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle is a felony carrying up to 10 years in prison, with penalties escalating to life imprisonment if the act results in death, according to La Grasso, Abdo & Silveri PLLC. Separately, under MCL 750.227b, possessing or carrying a firearm during the commission of a felony carries a mandatory consecutive two-year prison sentence that must be served before and separate from any underlying felony sentence.
Countywide violent crime has actually trended downward in recent years even as individual cases like this one draw attention. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data compiled by PlainCrime shows Genesee County's violent crime rate stood at 22.9 per 100,000 residents in 2024, an 11.4% decline from 25.8 per 100,000 in 2020, after peaking at 27.8 per 100,000 in 2022. For now, the shooting that killed the 21-year-old driver remains under active investigation, with police still working to identify a suspect, determine a motive, and piece together exactly what happened before shots rang out on North Dort Highway.
