A 17-year-old Benton Harbor teen now faces seven felony charges, including open murder and conspiracy to commit open murder, in connection with the shooting death of 21-year-old Demarius Porter seven months ago. Alonzo Woodley was waived into adult criminal court and is being held at the Berrien County Jail.
The charges against Woodley include carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, and three counts of felony firearm, according to ABC57. As reported by WWMT, the case ties Woodley directly to the death of Porter, whom police found shot in Benton Harbor.
Confusion Over the Crime Scene
Emergency responders were initially dispatched to a shots-fired call in the 600 block of Columbus Avenue during the early morning hours of Sunday, February 1, 2026, before determining that the shooting had actually taken place in the 700 block of Lavette Street, per MailMax. Medic 1 ambulance crews treated Porter at the scene before rushing him to Corewell Health hospital in St. Joseph, where he was pronounced dead, the outlet reported. An autopsy conducted at the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine in Kalamazoo officially determined his cause of death to be fatal gunshot injuries.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, local patrols were increased in the surrounding neighborhood, and officials said there was no ongoing threat to the public. That gap between the killing and the charges reflects the length of the ensuing investigation, which stretched across seven months before Woodley's arrest.
A Multi-Agency Manhunt
The months-long homicide investigation drew on local, state, and federal resources, with the FBI Violent Crime Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisting the Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety alongside the Berrien County Sheriff's Office and Michigan State Police, the same MailMax report noted. Berrien County also maintains a multi-agency Tactical Response Unit, a SWAT team established in 1974 with 22 specialized members trained to support municipal departments like Benton Harbor and Benton Township during high-risk operations, as Hoodline has previously reported.
The conspiracy to commit open murder charge suggests the case may extend beyond Woodley alone, though authorities have not publicly named any additional suspects.
Remembering Demarius Porter
Porter was the victim of the homicide. Investigators were still searching for leads in the case.
Legal Path to Adult Court
Under Michigan's Raise the Age law, enacted in October 2021, 17-year-olds are processed in the juvenile system by default. But state prosecutors retain statutory authority under waiver provisions to transfer minors aged 14 and older into adult criminal court for severe offenses such as murder, a mechanism explained by the Neumann Law Group. That provision is what allowed prosecutors to move Woodley's case into adult court.
