Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety Director Dan McGinnis has finally spoken up about the shooting of an out of state couple as they drove through a city neighborhood on November 3.
The California couple told news media they’d been driving near Napier Avenue when as many of 50 shots hit the side of their car. Phillip Mills was shot in the back, and his wife was shot in the arm.
The Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety said nothing publicly about the investigation until this week’s meeting of the city Public Safety and Public Works Committee, when Director Dan McGinnis talked about why no comment has been made.
“If too much is out, it can harm an investigation,” McGinnis said. “So in Bent Harbor, we know that. Because you haven’t really heard a lot from Benton Harbor. There’s been some some Karens that have called from outside of Benton Harbor. But we want to be clear on this. We play the long game.”
McGinnis said with an investigation spanning two townships, multiple agencies are following a thread that needs to be unraveled. He added the victims speaking to the media hampered the investigation, possibly setting police back two weeks.
“That is still active and again, we’re trying to solve an issue on the long game and making sure that Benton Harbor, Benton Township are safe and not for clicks and sound bites.”
McGinnis said Benton Harbor Public Safety is working with all partners, including Michigan State Police and the Benton Township Police Department, and the more information gets out, the harder it is to gather new information.
McGinnis added the shooting occurred during a busy period that came during an otherwise peaceful time, reporting crime has been down 24% in the city this year.
