A New Year’s Eve celebration in Lawrence, Michigan, ended in tragedy when 40-year-old Jason McCreary was killed just after midnight on January 1, 2023. McCreary, a resident of Sutter Creek, California, was attending a small party of fewer than ten guests on 60th Avenue when gunfire rang out as fireworks were being set off.

A 62-year-old fellow guest, Christopher Alan Toppenberg of Lawrence Township, retrieved an AR-15 style rifle and began firing, reportedly believing the fireworks had finished. McCreary was struck in the head and died at the scene; another man, 35-year-old David Reed of Waverly Township, was also shot and critically injured.

When Van Buren County Sheriff’s deputies arrived around 12:05 a.m., they found one man deceased and another gravely wounded. Toppenberg was arrested at the scene.

If anyone attended that gathering or has information about what happened in the minutes before the shots were fired, please share what you know.