Teen gets minimum 22 years in prison for shooting 2 boys last year near Lansing school
- A Lansing teenager will serve a minimum of 22 years in prison for shooting two other teens.
- The judge cited the need to deter gun violence in the community during sentencing.
LANSING — A Lansing teenager accused of shooting of two 16-year-old boys, nearly killing them, last fall near Riddle Elementary School is headed to prison for more than two decades.
A judge on Oct. 29 cited a need for deterrence before sentencing Marcell Keshawn Marshall to 20 to 41 years in prison on two counts of assault with intent to murder and the mandatory two years for felony firearm possession. The latter sentences will run concurrently with each other and must be served first, meaning Marshall would have to serve a minimum of 22 years in prison, minus 402 days credit for time served.
“We just have way too much gun violence in this small city,” Ingham County Circuit Judge Wanda Stokes said. “It’s got to stop. We’ve got to do something.”
Marshall, now 18, was convicted by a jury in August. He was 17 at the time of the incident and was charged as an adult.
The shooting victims were Sexton High School students walking to a bus stop with other people on West Allegan Street near Riddle Street on Sept. 17, 2024, police said. Both teens were shot in “the upper torso/neck area,” a detective testified in a document filed with the court when Marshall was formally charged.
Both boys survived and testified in Marshall’s trial.
Shortly after the incident, Lansing police said the shooting happened after someone made a theft accusation.
“The situation escalated, resulting in the suspect producing a firearm and shooting both victims,” they said in a news release last year. “It has been confirmed that the suspect and the victims were not strangers and had prior familiarity with each other.”
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The mothers of the two boys who were shot told Stokes on Wednesday their sons are forever changed by the trauma. One of the mothers said Marshall “probably never had a hug,” and “I still want to give this young man a hug.”
Marshall’s attorney, Jacob Sartz IV, said Marshall maintains his innocence. Sartz sought minimum sentences of 10 years on the assault counts, noting Marshall had a difficult, unsettled childhood and no prior criminal record.
But Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Nattalie Macomber suggested 20- to 50-year sentences would be appropriate. Both victims nearly lost their lives, she said.
Stokes acknowledged Marshall had virtually no parental supervision growing up but said she believed it would take 20 years for Marshall “to be on the path that would be appropriate for him to at some pont be able to return to our community.”
NZ rugby legend ‘ridiculed’ as a teen, turned into a Barbie
Black Ferns rugby star Portia Woodman-Wickliffe was confused by her strong build growing up. Now she has inspired a doll with muscles, tā moko and curly hair.
Midday Report
8 October 2025
4 min read
Caption:Portia Woodman-Wickliffe is one of four athletes in Barbie’s campaign marking International Day of the Girl.Photo credit:petra rajnicova / Supplied / Barbie Mattel
Black Ferns rugby star Portia Woodman-Wickliffe says her strong and athletic body – that has made her one of the greatest in the world – was at one point a target of ridicule which nearly derailed her.
“I got ridiculed for it then I started being called a man, and that was scary,” Woodman-Wickliffe told Midday Report about her co-ed school days as a teen.
“I didn’t want to be a part of anything. I didn’t want to be a part of sports … I never really saw girls with big muscles or that had strong legs and so I never knew that that was normal. All I knew was that I was strong and fast.
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“So all this confusion that came around my body was quite hard.”
Now 34, the two-time Olympic and Rugby World Cup winner has teamed up with toy maker Mattel as part of a special ‘Team Barbie’ collaboration to boost girls’ body confidence and sports ambitions.
Mattel’s research — based on more than 6000 girls aged 6 to 14 across the US, UK, France, and New Zealand — found that one in three girls drops out of sports by the age of 14, primarily due to body confidence concerns, self-doubt, and a lack of visible female role models.
That’s why Woodman-Wickliffe was so intentional about how her Barbie doll was designed with three requests: muscles, tā moko and curly hair.
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe discusses new Barbie doll
Midday Report8 October 2025Queue
“I think for me, it represents the communities that I represent, if that makes sense, and I’m just so proud,” Woodman-Wickliffe says.
“I think the guns are amazing. She’s got some quads on her and the tā moko is just amazing. It’s just perfect.”
It might appear to still be a “skinny little thing” at first glance, she says, but her Barbie stands out compared to the traditional ones.
However, the Team Barbie dolls are not for sale.
“She’s there to represent and to showcase to girls that they can pursue rugby or whatever it is that they dream of, but they’re one of a kind, all four of them.
“If you work hard, and you dream big, and you love what you do, you will get to the point where these moments will happen for you.”
As for those boys who used to tease her, she eventually put a stop to that the best way she knew how.
“I challenged them to a race and I smoked them all.”
Now, as a mum to a 13-year-old daughter, her mission feels even more personal.
“[Her daughter is] in intermediate going into high school next year. That’s all potential for her and I’m worried about it.
“But I hope that we’ve given her the confidence to know that her body is perfect in every way and it’s going to take her to places that she’s probably never dreamed of.”