GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Grand Rapids-area man was charged last week with three counts of ethnic intimidation and three counts of felonious assault after he used racial slurs and allegedly threatened to shoot several people late Thursday night in a neighborhood in the city’s southeast side.
Andre Lee Curtiss was arraigned Friday in connection to threats he allegedly made toward several people of color.
According to court documents obtained by News 8, Curtiss cut off two people with his white truck who were walking on Meerse Street near Division Avenue shortly before 11:30 p.m. He then yelled at them to get in their homes, before using a racial slur.
Curtiss came out of a nearby home shortly later with a shotgun in hand when witnesses told police he was heard yelling more slurs and said, “I’ll blow your {expletive) away.”
One of the two initial victims ran inside a nearby home to seek cover. He hid in the apartment, along with several others, while Curtiss allegedly peered through windows and continued with his rant.
“The biggest thing is ethnic intimidation is not just words. It’s always got words plus some sort of action,” Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said. “I think that’s where we kind of get misled or it’s not clear on, is that you can use all the bad words you want or all the racial slurs you want, it’s when combining those racial slurs with some sort of tangible action that puts that person in fear that something more is going to happen. That’s where you get into ethnic intimidation law.”
Curtiss later told police officers that he never “racked the shotgun and it was unloaded.” However, one officer reported there was a shell in the chamber of the shotgun as well as five additional shells loaded into the gun.
Curtiss posted bail. He is expected back in court next month.
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Andre’s name. We regret the error, which has now been corrected.
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