FOWLERVILLE, MI -- A Grand Rapids man was injured Saturday, Oct. 27 by gunfire along I-96 as he traveled to Comerica Park to see the Detroit Tigers play in the World Series, a local newspaper is reporting.
Livingston County Sheriff Bob Bezotte told the Livingston Daily that the Grand Rapids man was traveling east along I-96 when he was struck by a bullet at about 12:19 p.m. Saturday.
The man first thought a tire blew on his vehicle, then got out of his vehicle near the border of Livingston and Ingham Counties and found he had been shot in the buttocks.
The morning shooting was the second of two today—the other, at 11:52 a.m. on eastbound I-96 near the Fowlerville exit— and brings the total number of recent shootings along that Interstate to more than 25 since Oct. 16. Police are working to determine how many in that area are connected, the Livingston County Sheriff's Department told an MLive.com reporter Saturday.
The Grand Rapids man was the first person injured in the rash of gunfire, which previously had only struck vehicles, the Livingston Daily reported.
In the first Saturday, Oct. 27 shooting, police said a bullet traveled through the back seat of a car and exited a window on the passenger side. No one inside was injured. Police have closed that portion of I-96 near the Fowlerville exit as an investigation continues.
Police continue to seek a dark-colored 1998 Oldsmobile Alero or a 1998 Toyota Camry.
Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe told the Saginaw News this week that bullet fragments from seven of the recent shootings have been tied to one weapon. Those shootings occurred between Oct. 16 and 18 along I-96 between Ingham County and Metro Detroit.
Nearly 70 investigators from nine law enforcement agencies are on a task force investigating the case.