HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Two men stand charged related to as many as five Holland-area drive-by shootings, according to Ottawa County Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Bennett.
Holland resident Nilson Jose Morales, 21, who recently moved here from Flint, is charged with four counts of discharging a firearm from a vehicle, four counts of felony firearm, and one count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder. He remains in Ottawa County Jail, with no bond set at this time, Bennett said.
Holland resident Jonathan Jair Garces-Palma, 19, faces charges of shooting from a moving vehicle and accessory after the crime, Bennett said. He was arrested Dec. 12 and remains in Ottawa County Jail on a $20,000 bond.
Bennett noted some of the incidents:
- Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019, shootings, one on West Lakewood Boulevard., and one near the intersection near Douglas and River, in which a carful of teens was stopped and shot at, injuring one teen.
- Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, near the three-way intersection of Butternut Drive, River and 136th avenues shattered glass at a nearby gas station and left bullet holes in a vehicle or two. No one was hurt.
The suspects and victims know one another, Bennett said in a statement emailed to media Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019, adding, “motives and reasons behind the criminal acts are still under investigation.”
Morales was taken into custody peacefully after an hours-long standoff at Stratford Way apartments on Friday, Dec. 13, 2019. He was briefly hospitalized before being booked into the jail.
This remains an on-going investigation, and police have identified, but are not yet released, the names of two other suspects.
