Man gets prison for killing in Kentwood hotel hallway
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A deadly shooting in the hallway of a Kentwood hotel is sending the convicted gunman to prison for a minimum of 13 years.
A Kent County judge on Thursday sentenced Ateivise Smith for second-degree murder in the March 2023 shooting at Delta Hotel, which investigators say happened while the victim was attending his son's birthday party.
Smith received a 13- to 40-year term for the murder and a mandatory two-year sentence on a felony firearms conviction. He was credited for 699 days served since his arrest.
, 22, of Georgia, was in a second-floor hallway at the Delta Hotel on 28th Street and East Beltline Avenue SE just before 7 p.m. on March 4, 2023. He had been shot five times, including three times in the back, according to police.
Garrett had been living in Atlanta, but returned to his hometown of Grand Rapids for the first birthday party of his son, which was held at the hotel.
Officers found six .40-caliber shell casings in the hallway, which matched a Glock handgun that Smith later dropped while running from Grand Rapids police in May 2023 during an unrelated incident.
Smith, then 21, was booked into the Kent County jail in July 2023.
Hotel surveillance footage showed Smith wearing a ski mask and clutching the front of his waistband, leaving the hotel through the front lobby on the night Garrett was killed.
In court records, Smith was identified as part of the 30boyz gang, which has been tied to other crimes, officials said. Before the killing, 30boyz had , asking where to find him and making threats, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
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