Lansing has had a rough few years. If you live here, you know the sound. It’s that sharp, metallic pop that makes you freeze and check the clock. For a long time, the narrative around shooting in Lansing Michigan was pretty bleak, defined by retaliatory cycles and headlines that felt like they were on a loop. But as we sit here in early 2026, the vibe is shifting. People are actually starting to breathe a little.
I spent some time looking at the hard data from the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office and the local nonprofit Advance Peace. Honestly, the shift is pretty wild. In 2021, the city was rocked by 23 fatal shootings. By the end of 2025, that number plummeted to just seven. That is a 70% drop in four years. You don't see that kind of change by accident or just by "hoping for the best." It’s the result of some very specific, somewhat controversial, and deeply personal boots-on-the-ground work.
What changed with shooting in Lansing Michigan?
The police are doing their thing, sure, but a lot of this credit is going to a group called Advance Peace. They don't just patrol; they intervene. They find the people most likely to be involved in a shooting—both victims and perpetrators—and they basically offer them a way out. We’re talking about "Peacemaker Fellowships." It sounds a bit "peace, love, and granola," but it’s actually really intense. They use street outreach and cognitive behavioral therapy to break the cycle of "he shot my friend, so I have to shoot his."
Take the Memorial Day shooting in 2024. One youth died, and six others were hurt. It could have sparked a summer-long bloodbath. Instead, mentors connected the rivals, physically took them out of the city to clear their heads, and got them talking. Scott Hughes from the Prosecutor’s Office noted that December 2025 actually saw zero fatal shootings in the city. When was the last time we could say that?
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The "Red Flag" Reality
It's not just community groups. The legal landscape in Michigan has completely transformed over the last 24 months.
- Universal Background Checks: These became the standard for all firearm purchases, not just some.
- Secure Storage Laws: If you have a kid in the house and your gun isn't locked up, you're now looking at serious legal heat.
- ERPOs (Red Flag Laws): This is the one everyone argues about. Judges can now order the temporary removal of guns if someone is a clear danger to themselves or others.
Governor Whitmer’s Gun Violence Prevention Task Force just dropped a final report in late 2025 with 39 more recommendations. They want to raise the buying age to 21 across the board and ban things like "Glock switches"—those little plastic pieces that turn a semi-auto pistol into a machine gun. Some of this is stuck in the House because, well, politics. But the laws already on the books are definitely being felt.
The Geography of the Problem
If you look at the 2025 incident maps, the "hot spots" haven't totally disappeared, but they’ve shrunk. Most of the action is still concentrated in the Southwest (Ward 3) and parts of the Northeast. For example, back in November 2025, there was a fatal shooting in the 2000 block of Georgetown Blvd. Just weeks before that, a 60-year-old man was killed on South Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
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These aren't just statistics; they’re families in our neighborhoods. But the frequency is slowing down. In 2024, there were 64 verified shooting incidents through November. In 2025? That number dropped to 46. It’s still 46 too many, but the downward slope is real.
Why People Are Still On Edge
Even with the stats looking better, the fear doesn't just vanish overnight. On January 10, 2026, hundreds of people gathered outside the Eastwood Towne Center. They weren't there for a local shooting, but to protest a federal ICE shooting that happened in Minneapolis. It shows how jumpy everyone still is. When people hear about a shooting in Lansing Michigan, or even a shooting connected to Lansing residents elsewhere, the trauma resurfaces.
And let’s be real—the clearance rate for non-fatal shootings is still kinda low. In 2024, the state report showed only about an 18% clearance rate for those crimes. That means a lot of people who pull a trigger are still walking the streets. That’s the part the Lansing Police Department (LPD) is trying to fix with the $900,000 in grant funding they just secured. They’re hiring more "Violent Crime Impact" officers and trying to get better tech for shell casing recovery.
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What Actually Works Now
If you’re a resident or someone looking to move here, the "expert" take is that Lansing is currently a laboratory for what works. The "old way" was just more cops and more jail time. The "new way" is a mix of that plus heavy social intervention.
- Lansing 360: This is the Mayor’s initiative to wrap social services around at-risk youth before they ever pick up a gun.
- Youth Gun Court: Ingham County started this to handle kids caught with weapons differently—focusing on why they felt they needed the gun in the first place.
- Safe Storage Giveaways: The city has been handing out free gun locks like candy.
Actionable Steps for Lansing Residents
If you’re worried about safety or want to help keep the numbers moving in the right direction, here is what you can actually do:
- Get a Free Lock: The LPD and the Ingham County Health Department have free cable locks available. Use them. Most "accidental" shootings in the city involve kids finding unsecured weapons.
- Utilize the ERPO Law: If a family member is in a mental health crisis and has access to a firearm, you can petition the court for an Extreme Risk Protection Order. It’s a tool that didn't exist two years ago.
- Support "Advance Peace": They are always looking for mentors who actually know the streets. If you've lived that life and come out the other side, you’re more valuable than any police officer in those specific neighborhoods.
- Check the LPD Transparency Portal: Don't rely on neighborhood rumors or "I heard shots" on Facebook. The city’s data portal is updated monthly and shows exactly where incidents are happening.
The trend is positive, but it’s fragile. Maintaining this 70% drop in fatalities requires the community to stay as loud about the solutions as they were about the problems.