GROVE CITY, OH (WCMH) — Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the shooting that killed a man Tuesday in a Grove City parking lot.
Police said Bruce Stevens, 59, was sitting in his car when he was hit in the head by a stray bullet. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
“Looks like he was strictly just an innocent victim,” Lieutenant Brian Davidson said. “Just sitting there minding his own business.”
Police later arrested Michael Kassner, 29. Davidson told NBC4 Kassner, a member of the Lost Souls Motorcycle Club, turned himself in to police.
The manager at a nearby gym called 911 to report a man who appeared to be dead in a car in the parking lot beside the gym.
“There’s a gentleman in his car, not quite sure what happened here,” the caller said. “But we need some people to come out here.”
Davidson said police went out at 4 p.m. Tuesday, about an hour before that 911 call, to investigate a report of a gunshot near the Lost Souls Motorcycle Club on Garden City, but found nothing.
The 911 call came in shortly after 5 p.m.
Police said through their investigation, they found a bullet hole in a nearby wall. They obtained a search warrant for the Lost Souls Motorcycle Club and found a gun and a shell casing inside. They said the suspect, Kassner, allegedly fired a shot which went through a wall, outside into the parking lot, where it hit Bruce Stevens in the head.
“Our understanding from just talking to the family is sometimes he worked in his car,” Davidson said. “And so he would take time, he would just go and park at different locations and work from his car.”
“It’s really sad,” Jamey McCoy said. “This time of year, especially being Christmas, and just that someone had to die for something that really made no sense, really.”
McCoy’s body shop, McCoy’s 4×4, is a couple doors down from the Lost Souls Motorcycle Club. He said his son was driving through the area where Stevens was shot about the same time it happened.
“So yes, it does scare me,” McCoy said. “I don’t know how we prevent it. You know, we try to be as cautious as possible.”
NBC4 spoke to neighbors of Bruce Stevens, who described him as a nice man who lived alone and, while friendly, mainly kept to himself.
Police said Kassner will be charged, likely with reckless homicide, although it depends on his prior criminal record.