On November 6, 2023, a series of violent events in the Burton Heights neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Michigan, claimed the life of Malik Eubanks, a 19-year-old Black man. That day, Mr. Eubanks was found fatally shot, his body left in the street on Horton Avenue SE. Nearby, on Melville Street SE, authorities discovered the body of 20-year-old Anayia Rodriguez, who had also been shot to death.
The Kent County Medical Examiner later ruled both deaths as homicides.
The tragedy was compounded by a harrowing discovery about a mile from where Mr. Eubanks’s body lay. His two-year-old son was found wandering alone. The toddler was physically unharmed but had blood on him, a silent witness to the violence that had taken his father. The child was later safely reunited with his mother.
As police were concluding their work at the initial crime scene, another fatal shooting was reported in the same neighborhood. Darryl Yarber, 32, was found deceased from a gunshot wound. While police noted the proximity in time and location, they did not publicly establish a definitive connection between Yarber's death and the double homicide of Mr. Eubanks and Ms. Rodriguez.
For nearly a year, the investigation continued until authorities announced a major breakthrough. They arrested 19-year-old Casey Harmon Jr. in connection with the deaths. Court documents revealed that Harmon and Mr. Eubanks knew each other and that Harmon had made derogatory comments about him. Investigators linked Harmon to the crime through several pieces of evidence, including a gun found by a passerby and a distinctive jacket with an NBA logo and blood on it that was located near the wandering toddler. Police found photos of Harmon wearing the same jacket. It was alleged that after the shooting, Harmon stole Mr. Eubanks’s vehicle with the child still inside.
Casey Harmon Jr. was charged with two counts of open murder and additional felony weapons charges. He was subsequently tried by a jury and convicted of first-degree murder for the deaths of both Malik Eubanks and Anayia Rodriguez. As of October 2024, the investigation into the death of Darryl Yarber was still ongoing.
