KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — Police say the suspect in a Kalamazoo homicide that sparked an Amber Alert for a 1-year-old turned himself in.
Police say the 32-year-old suspect of a homicide, Eric James Smith, turned himself in at the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety headquarters around 3:20 p.m. on Friday. The child was then located, unharmed, at the home of a relative.
Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety’s Chief Coakley said the suspect shot and killed a woman in her home on East Emerson Street near Burdick Street in Kalamazoo. Both the victim and the suspect were the parents of a 1-year-old who went missing from the scene, he said. An Amber Alert was sent out for the child.
Coakley had a message for the people of Kalamazoo Friday night.
“Kalamazoo, we have to seriously talk about gun violence in our community. Another senseless homicide in our community today. Let’s have real talk about gun violence,” he said. “Kalamazoo, we gotta do something different. We are strong, we are better than where we are. This senseless — and I said senseless — homicide, a loss of life in our community. Let’s do better. Let’s help one another, let’s be strong Kalamazoo.”