FLINT (AP) A warrant has been issued charging one suspect in the fatal drive-by shooting of Herbert Cleaves, the brother of Detroit Pistons rookie Mateen Cleaves, the Genesee County prosecutor said yesterday.
“I”ve heard that too,” said the Cleaves” father, also named Herbert Cleaves. “But the police said they were going to sit down with us to give us more information when they had some.”
No one was in custody by yesterday afternoon, but prosecutor Arthur Busch said he expected the suspect to turn himself in. He would be charged with four counts, including murder and conspiracy to commit murder, Busch said.
A second suspect also was being sought, he said.
Police said two vehicles passed a Flint home about 2 a.m. Sunday and opened fire, shooting Herbert Cleaves, 27, in the abdomen. He was taken to Hurley Medical Center in Flint, where he was pronounced dead.
Busch said the assailants apparently had “some sort of grudge” with a companion of Cleaves.
“I”m not sure that Cleaves even knew about it,” Busch said. “He just happened to be with the wrong person at the wrong time.”
Mateen Cleaves missed practice with the Pistons to be with his family and was not expected to play in a home game yesterday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, said Pistons spokesman Kevin Grigg.
“We”re listing him as doubtful,” Grigg said.
The Cleaves family issued a written statement yesterday through the Pistons requesting privacy during their time of grief.
“Mateen will address the media upon his return to the Pistons, which at this time is uncertain,” the statement said.
Mateen and Herbert Cleaves were among seven children, five boys and two girls, of Herbert and Frances Cleaves. Mateen Cleaves is the youngest.
“He was a great athlete,” the father said. “He loved children, especially his nieces and nephews, and he was well liked by everybody.”
Herbert Cleaves did not achieve the success of his younger brother that led him to be a part of Michigan State”s 2000 NCAA championship team, but he excelled in football for Flint Northern High School, said Art Johnson, a longtime friend of the Cleaves family.
“All of those kids were great athletes growing up, and Herbert was no exception, and he and all the others could have been right there with Mateen,” Johnson told The Flint Journal. “They were just normal kids growing up and going through high school.”
Spartan coach Tom Izzo said yesterday that he failed to reach Mateen Cleaves on Sunday night and again yesterday morning but talked to his father. The Cleaves are working on funeral arrangements and may schedule Herbert Cleaves” funeral for Saturday, Izzo said at his weekly press conference.