DaQuan Pritchett, left, and Tyler Bishop.
KALAMAZOO, MI – While investigators allege a bullet fired from DaQuan Pritchett’s gun killed Christopher Adams last week, the actions of a man Adams was with that night may have also played a role in the 19-year-old’s death, according to a Kalamazoo Public Safety detective.
Detective Sheila Goodell detailed the events leading up the July 23 shooting on Mount Olivet Road in testimony Saturday to Kalamazoo County District Judge Julie K. Phillips.
After hearing the testimony, Phillips signed warrants charging Pritchett, 18, with one count each of open murder and felony use of a firearm, and Tyler Bishop, 21, with three counts each of attempted murder and felony use of a firearm.
Goodell told Phillips that Adams and Bishop were with two other people in a car on the night of July 23 when they came upon Pritchett, who was walking with two people in the 3200 block of Mount Olivet.
“Mr. Adams and the occupants in his vehicle had been disputing with these subjects who were walking and … as they pulled up to the pedestrians, Mr. Bishop, Tyler Bishop, exited the vehicle to confront them,” Goodell testified. “One of the subjects included DaQuan Pritchett and, according to witnesses, Mr. Pritchett produced a handgun and fired it in the air.”
Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley said Monday that the dispute mentioned by Goodell stemmed from a drug deal in which Pritchett allegedly used $100 in counterfeit money to purchase marijuana.
The gunfire that night, according to Goodell, prompted Bishop to pull out a handgun, which he fired at Pritchett and the two people who were with Pritchett. The gunfire did not strike anyone.
Pritchett, at that point, returned fire “towards the vehicle and that bullet did indeed strike Christopher Adams,” Goodell testified.
Adams was driven from the scene of the shooting, which occurred at about 9:30 p.m., to Borgess Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
His funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. today at Life Story Funeral Home, 5975 Lovers Lane, in Portage.
Meanwhile, Pritchett was arraigned Monday in district court and is being held without bond in the Kalamazoo County Jail pending a probable cause hearing Aug. 7 before District Judge Richard A. Santoni.
When District Judge Anne E. Blatchford asked Pritchett Monday if he wanted a court-appointed attorney, he told her his mother was getting an attorney for him. He did not have an attorney listed, as of Tuesday morning.
Bishop also was arraigned Monday and is being held in the county jail on a $250,000 cash/surety bond. Bishop also is scheduled to be back in court Aug. 7 for a hearing in front of Santoni.
Bishop is being represented by Cassopolis attorney Edwin G. Johnson III. Johnson, reached by phone today, declined to comment for this report.
Rex Hall Jr. is a public safety reporter for the Kalamazoo Gazette. You can reach him at rhall2@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter.