Posted on 10/12/2026 8:00:51 AM PDT by Twotone
The night before Gino Chouinard was fatally wounded on a stretch of a popular trail in Michigan’s capital last fall, the 54-year-old man missed the intake window at a homeless shelter by a few minutes, according to his uncle.
“They wouldn’t let him into the shelter,” Robert Chouinard told CNN about his nephew. “They’re pretty strict with the rules. He called his girlfriend and told her he was going to sleep at the river trail.”
Gino Chouinard was found unconscious with head trauma and other injuries the morning of October 14, 2025. He died 13 days later in what would be the first in a string of violent deaths on the same stretch of the Lansing River Trail, police said.
In all, at least five deaths have been reported since October 2025, with the city’s police chief saying investigators believe the crimes could represent a “pattern” targeting White, unhoused men, and the mayor seeking to reassure the public the area remains safe for visitors.
“One question that we are being asked is, ‘Do we have a serial killer in Lansing?” Police Chief Robert Backus told reporters last week, adding that investigators are looking at the possibility “these may be related cases.”
Lansing Mayor Andy Schor, in a statement, said a suspect in at least one of the deaths is in custody and police are looking into “all possible connections.”
“These attacks have specifically targeted men who were unhoused and sleeping along the river trail overnight, particularly from midnight to 6 a.m.,” Schor said. “We know that the general public has not been targeted in these attacks. … The Lansing river trail and our downtown remain safe for residents and visitors.”
The deaths occurred along a stretch of the more than 20-mile-long paved trail that winds through and connects numerous parks...
(Excerpt) Read more at lite.cnn.com ...
HOMELESS not “unhoused.” Shove it, CNN.
In all, at least five deaths have been reported since October 2025, with the city’s police chief saying investigators believe the crimes could represent a “pattern” targeting White, unhoused men, and the mayor seeking to reassure the public the area remains safe for visitors.
**************************************************
“Patterns” similar to this are not uncommon,
the crimes could represent a “pattern” targeting White, unhoused men,
Key Takeaways
- Five unhoused men have died along a one-mile stretch of the River Trail in Lansing, Michigan.
- The victims, identified as Gino Chouinard, Dennis Dunnebacke, Robert Smith, Daniel Lusk, and Louis Woodruff, ranged in age from 22 to 70.
- Four victims died from head injuries, while 22-year-old Daniel Lusk was stabbed.
- Lansing Police Chief Robert Backus confirmed that all cases are active and investigators are exploring a potential link.
- Experts note that while victim profiles are consistent, variations in the method of killing do not rule out a single perpetrator.
https://nationalhomeless.org/tag/hate-crimes/
Over the past 23 years, the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has documented nearly 2000 incidents of violence against people who were homeless. Since 1999, at least 588 of unhoused victims have violently been killed just for being unhoused.
These crimes appear to have been motivated by a perpetrator’s bias against people experiencing homelessness, and to have been facilitated by a perpetrator’s ability to target homeless people with relative ease. The crimes are a litany of atrocities: beatings, rapes, mutilations, and murders. The murder victims died in unfathomable ways: not only shot or stabbed to death, but also set on fire, drowned – even beheaded.
This year, we’ve documented shocking levels of law enforcement involvement in attacks against people experiencing homelessness, as well as serial attacks on people experiencing homelessness. Most notably, Oregon saw a whopping 500% increase since the last reported attacks in 2019.
In several states, such as Kentucky, Florida, Missouri, and others, legislation has been enacted that exacerbates the already dire situation faced by those experiencing homelessness. These laws create a vicious cycle of punitive measures that further marginalize and dehumanize people who are already in vulnerable circumstances.
Unfortunately, these injustices have fueled vigilantism and hatred directed towards people who are forced to live outdoors. It is imperative that society recognizes that homelessness is a societal issue and should not be met with violence or unwarranted hostility.
Homeless? Unhoused?
I just stick with: bum, vagrant, transient, mentally-ill drifter.
Go back to the real words. Take our language back.
America’s cities were once very strict about vagrancy.
If you attempted to sleep “rough,” you were arrested. The answer now is CCC-style camps in the wilderness for those sentenced to vagrancy charges. At least there they can have bed, hot water, and be kept away from drug dealers - and serial killers.
I am certain that if these rules were enforced, 90% of these vagrants would find “housing” of one kind or another.
why do we allow this chaos, filth and destruction in our cities?
Guaranteed to be a POC doing the murders.
RE: “The Lansing river trail and our downtown remain safe for residents and visitors.
^^^^^^^
Really?
Re: you were arrested
^^^^^^^^^
Result: Housed for the night.
Bums. Vagrants. Ne’er-do-wells. Layabouts. Addicts.
“Trolls”
Result: Housed for the night.
Use some of those deactivated Flock cameras as trail-cams on that river trail.
But oh...there’s no ticket revenue coming out of the homeless. Carry on.
I’m sorry, but any able-bodied person ought to be able to find a job - any job - that allows them to earn enough money to have a place to live. If they’re sick or mentally ill, OK, they deserve treatment, but that should be the exception rather than the rule. Liberals enable way too many of those who are just lazy or drug-addicted to perpetuate the pattern of personal and societal destruction.
Otis had a home, and a wife.
“...unhoused...”
Democrat term for stew-bum.
“The Lansing river trail and our downtown remain safe for residents and visitors.”
Well....not all of them.
Thank your local liberal scum. They are the conduit for all that is evil and destructive.
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