This Song Tells The Story Of A Grand Rapids Tragedy

It's always fun to stumble across an artist who is from your hometown or makes a reference to something you love. There's a reason Michiganders go crazy when "Don't Stop Believin" starts playing and you hear about a city boy born and raised in South Detroit.

However, stumbling across the song "King Park" by Grand Rapids-based band La Dispute will leave you feeling very different than after you hear "Don't Stop Believin". While one song is about hope, "King Park" tells a story about a real shooting in 2008 that took the life of an innocent boy in a senseless shooting here in Grand Rapids.

King Park Shooting

The song "King Park", released in 2011, tells the story of Kyle Keenan, a 21-year-old who attempted to kill a rival gang member in a drive-by shooting but missed, instead hitting and killing a 16-year-old boy who was nearby.  He then went on the run for four days before police learned he was hiding in a nearby hotel. When police attempted to arrest Keenan, he shot himself.

This is the shooting that La Dispute, a band that is proudly from Grand Rapids and frequently references the city in many of their songs, sings about in "King Park". The song begins with

"Another shooting on the southeast side/This is a drive-by, mid-day/ Outside of the bus stop, by Fuller and Franklin/

After describing the shooting as it took place, lead vocalist and writer Jordan Dreyer takes an omnipotent being approach to the scene, acting as a spectator to the event while describing the tragedy of a boy who had his life ahead of him killed in a senseless murder.

The climax of the song comes when the shooter, Keenan is hiding in a hotel and has a conversation with his uncle, asking

Can I still get into Heaven if I kill myself?/Can I ever be forgiven 'cause I killed that kid?/ It was an accident, I swear it wasn't mean for him

A heartbreaking question that shows the remorse the shooter had. Keenan attended a Baptist Church. The writers choose not to reveal what happens to Keenan.

Police Chief Kevin Belk was quoted saying that even though Keenan was apprehended, he said there was no reason to feel good about the outcome because "another family is hurting."

Why La Dispute Wrote This Song

In a zine titled Conversations III on Wildfire, pages 33 & 34 go into detail on the group's reasons for writing such a hard-hitting song. Ultimately, it was their connection to the neighborhood where the shooting took place.

"Conversations III: On Wildlife" Upload
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Frustrated with how the public reacted to the shooting, which took place in a predominantly African American neighborhood, they wanted to bring more attention to the true tragedy of the entire event. People chose to just ignore the park after the shooting rather than provide assistance to the areas affected by crimes like this.

La Dispute will be playing in Grand Rapids on September 28th.