Bond has been denied for two Traverse City teens accused of murdering a city parking employee before leading police on a foot chase and shooting at officers.
17-year-old Eugene Thompson and 18-year-old Hunter Vanderwall were arraigned via Zoom from the Grand Traverse County jail.
Grand Traverse County assistant prosecutor Kyle Attwood told the court it was 17-year-old Eugene Thompson who pulled the trigger and shot 32-year-old Lawrence Boyd in a Traverse City parking garage Saturday night.
Boyd was on the job at the time, working for the city's Parking Services department. Attwood said security camera footage shows the crime and its aftermath.
Thompson "can be seen going back while the victim is dying to pick up his vape, which he then takes a couple hits off of and then moves on. And then after that, the two co-defendants continue to engage in the breaking and entering of motor vehicles," Attwood said during the arraignment.
"Clearly not deterred by what had occurred, clearly not shaken up enough to leave the larcenies behind, they keep going like nothing had happened," he said. "That, to me, shows a callous indifference or a heartlessness that shocks the conscience, frankly."
Boyd's body was found the following morning.
Attwood asked the court to deny bond for both defendants and 86th District Court Chief Magistrate Tammi Rodgers agreed.
Confrontation with police
Some time later that Saturday night, police responded to reports of two people stealing things from vehicles along East Eighth Street.
When they approached the two suspects — Thompson and Vanderwall — the pair fled on foot. Police say Thompson shot at officers during the chase, narrowly missing.
That incident led police to issue a shelter-in-place order for the surrounding neighborhoods. Northwestern Michigan College, on whose campus Vanderwall was later found and arrested, was briefly placed on lockdown.
Thompson is charged with the premeditated murder of Boyd as well as the attempted murder of a Traverse City police officer. Vanderwall also faces a felony murder charge as well as theft and assaulting or resisting a police officer.
Thompson and Vanderwall entered not guilty pleas to all charges.
Attorney Paul Jarboe, appointed to represent both defendants at their arraignment, offered condolences to Boyd's family during the hearing.
"A number of lives have been destroyed by what apparently happened just two blocks away from the courthouse this past weekend," Jarboe told the court. "I want to speak to the people in Traverse City, to our community, and say that this is not who we are, and also it is not who we want to become."
Jarboe called the weekend violence a tragedy and asked the public to let the legal process play out.
"At some point we've got to really look at how we as a community are dealing with our troubled youth," he said.
Jarboe's office administers the county's indigent defense program — appointing attorneys for those who cannot afford their own counsel.
Rodgers, the magistrate, determined both Thompson and Vanderwall qualify for an appointed attorney. They are next due in court in early December.
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