State Police shooting incident update

A Message From President Haas:

The following message was sent to the Grand Valley community from President Thomas J. Haas on March 16, 2009:

To our faculty, staff, and students:
 
Last week the West Michigan Drug Enforcement Team, comprised of the Michigan State Police and Ottawa County Sheriff, conducted a search at  an apartment in Georgetown Township, south of Grand Valley's main campus in Allendale.  During this event, a Grand Valley student, Derek Copp of Spring Arbor, Michigan, was shot by one of the law enforcement officers.
 
The fact that this incident took place off-campus diminishes neither my interest nor my concern. The university's campus security staff was not involved.  Like many of you, I await a full and complete explanation from law enforcement, and I have made a formal request for such information. I want to know what brought the Enforcement Team to Derek's apartment and why a firearm was discharged. 
 
I want to wish Derek a complete recovery.  My office has been in touch with Derek to offer any accommodation that may be needed in furtherance of his studies.  As of today, Derek remains hospitalized in Grand Rapids.
 

Sincerely,
Thomas J. Haas
President

Additional Information:
Grand Valley's electronic notification system is deployed when an imminent danger on campus dictates immediate notification to all 24,000 students, and faculty and staff.  This incident was off-campus, involved one apartment, and was under the complete control of public safety agencies (Ottawa County Sheriff and Michigan State Police). For those reasons, university officials  reached the judgment that the campus community was not in danger and that broad notification was not necessary. The first reporting of the 9 p.m. shooting was on Grand Valley's news Web site (www.gvsu.edu/gvnow ) as soon as information was available from Michigan State Police the night of the incident.