Prosecutors say a Delta Township man deliberately hit a family with a car and then opened fire, killing a 3-year-old girl and injuring three adults.

DELTA TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A 21-year-old man is charged with first-degree murder and other felonies after authorities said he drove into a family out for an evening walk on Feb. 13 and then fired a shotgun, killing a 3-year-old girl and seriously injuring three adults.

Authorities say the attack unfolded in a neighborhood near Green Meadows and Farmstead Lane, west of Lansing, and quickly shifted from an emergency response to a murder prosecution. Eaton County prosecutors have described the case as one involving a child killed, three local residents badly hurt and a defendant now being held without bond while the court orders a competency evaluation. The immediate stakes are severe: one child is dead, a family has been shattered and the accused faces a mandatory life sentence without parole if he is convicted of the top charge.

Deputies were called at about 5:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, to reports of what the Eaton County Sheriff’s Office called an active violent incident. When first responders arrived, they found four victims and began lifesaving efforts while officers searched for the suspect. The sheriff’s office said a family had been out walking when a vehicle struck them. Investigators say the driver then got out and fired numerous shots at members of the family. A bystander who tried to help was also attacked and seriously hurt. The suspect was found a short time later and taken into custody with help from the Michigan State Police. By the end of the night, a 3-year-old girl had been pronounced dead at the scene, while a woman, a man and an older woman were taken to hospitals with serious injuries. Prosecutor Douglas R. Lloyd later said his office authorized charges after reviewing the early results of the investigation.

Court records and local reports added a darker picture of what investigators believe happened in the moments before and after the shooting. The child’s 33-year-old mother, her 36-year-old father and a 72-year-old woman who tried to intervene were all injured, according to court documents cited by local television reports. Authorities have said the younger two adults were hospitalized in stable condition, while the older woman was listed in critical condition in the days after the attack. Investigators also say home security video captured the suspect driving a gray sedan into the family before getting out with a 12-gauge shotgun. In the probable-cause account described by local outlets, the defendant is accused of grabbing the mother by the hair and pulling as though he was trying to break her neck. Police say he later told investigators he intentionally tried to hit the family and said he “had to kill someone to save his family.” That claimed motive has not been publicly explained by authorities, and investigators have not described any evidence that the victims knew the suspect.

The case has stunned Delta Township because officials have said they have reason to believe the violence was isolated, yet the facts released so far suggest a seemingly ordinary family walk became the setting for a deliberate attack. The neighborhood intersection where it happened sits in a residential area, not a place normally associated with major violent crime scenes. Eaton County officials have released only limited details about the victims, identifying the child only as a 3-year-old girl from Delta Township and describing the adults by age and condition. Local reporting said the girl died of a gunshot wound. Prosecutors have also said they are withholding some investigative details outside court because disclosing too much too soon could affect the defendant’s constitutional rights and the government’s ability to secure a conviction. That leaves important questions unanswered, including why investigators believe the family was targeted, whether the suspect selected them at random and what role, if any, his reported statements about threats or saving his family may play in the case. Those issues are likely to become central as the criminal case moves forward.

On Feb. 17, prosecutors formally charged Alexander Lamar Banks Jr. with 10 counts: one count of first-degree premeditated murder, three counts of assault with intent to murder, four counts of felony-firearm, one count of possession of a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent and one count of possessing a loaded firearm in or on a vehicle. At arraignment the same day in 56A District Court, Judge Adrianne K. Van Langevelde denied bond at the request of the prosecution. The court also ordered Banks to undergo a competency evaluation at the Center for Forensic Psychology. Prosecutors said the next scheduled step is a probable cause conference on April 20, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. before Van Langevelde. A first-degree murder conviction in Michigan carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. The assault-with-intent-to-murder charges each carry possible life terms with parole eligibility, while the felony-firearm counts bring mandatory prison time that must run before any sentence on the related felony. As in every criminal case, the charges are accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

In the days after the attack, officials tried to balance public grief with caution about the active case. “My heart is shattered for the family, friends, and loved ones of those who were victimized,” Lloyd said in a public statement, adding that a fuller public account was not appropriate while the case was in its early stage. The sheriff’s office said its deputies and emergency crews began lifesaving efforts as soon as they arrived and later told residents there was no continuing threat to the community. News coverage from the Lansing area has filled in some of the human detail that court filings do not: a child dead before kindergarten, parents recovering from serious injuries and an older woman badly hurt after trying to help. The scene those reports describe is chaotic and brutal, with a neighborhood street turning into a crime scene in minutes. For now, many of the loudest voices are official ones, because the victims’ family has not spoken at length in court or through public statements. What remains clear is that one of the county’s most serious recent homicide cases is now moving from emergency response to forensic review, psychiatric evaluation and the long process of pretrial litigation.

The case stands, for now, at the point between accusation and deeper court scrutiny: Banks remains jailed without bond, the competency evaluation has been ordered and the next public milestone is the April 20 probable cause conference, where the court is expected to address how the case will proceed.