OSHTEMO (WKZO-AM) — Family and friends of murder victim Deshontae Ellis say the Kalamazoo Central High School student was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was shot in the parking lot of the Red Roof Inn in Oshtemo early Saturday.
Girlfriend Natasha Lopez said Ellis, 18, was considering college and looking forward to the birth of his child, and didn’t hang around with the”cowards and worthless scum” allegedly responsible for his death.
“It just feels so unreal,” Lopez said. “Why would somebody to that to Deshontae? Like, he was the sweetest guy you would ever meet.”
Nasi Moshe Ben-Yaisrael, also 18, was formally charged with open murder Monday and bond was denied.
Finding the motive will determine whether the shooting was premeditated, spur of the moment or even unintended, as his family has suggested.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help fund the funeral for Ellis.
– John McNeill
