Kalamazoo, MI → A 32-year-old Grand Rapids man who dragged his girlfriend from a moving vehicle and tried to shoot a neighbor who came to help her will spend the next 15 years in federal prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan, Maurice Ray Jr. was sentenced Wednesday to the statutory maximum of 15 years for being a felon in possession of a firearm. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney called Ray a “very serious danger to the public” while handing down the sentence.
Federal prosecutors said the violence began in April 2025 when Ray’s girlfriend called 911, telling dispatchers she was being kidnapped during a drive from Grand Rapids to Lansing. Authorities say Ray threw her from the moving car, dragging her down the street on her knees.
When a neighbor stepped outside to help the injured woman, Ray allegedly returned with a handgun drawn, forced the woman back into the vehicle, pointed the gun at the neighbor, and pulled the trigger. The gun did not fire.
Police later located Ray based on the neighbor’s description and initiated a traffic stop. What followed was a standoff that ended with Ray speeding away, the injured woman still inside the car. Prosecutors say Ray led multiple patrol cars on a three-mile pursuit through Lansing, at times exceeding 90 mph.
After officers cornered and arrested him, police retraced the chase route and recovered a loaded 9mm semiautomatic pistol along the roadside. Investigators said Ray’s DNA was found on the trigger, and the round in the chamber bore a striker mark, indicating the weapon had misfired when he attempted to shoot the neighbor.
U.S. Attorney VerHey said, “Anyone who would try to murder a woman just because she was trying to be a good Samaritan deserves to go to prison. I am glad the ATF and the Lansing Police Department brought this case to my attention so that my office could send him there.”
“Maurice Ray Jr. is an ATF poster child of an individual 100% deserving of federal prosecution for their illegal possession of a firearm,” said James Deir, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Detroit Field Division. “He illegally armed himself, kidnapped and assaulted his girlfriend, and then attempted to fire a gun at a neighbor who stepped in to help. The only explanation why this incident did not result in a murder is because that firearm malfunctioned. This sentence ensures an armed violent, career criminal is off the streets for 15 years. ATF will continue to work relentlessly with our partners to identify, investigate, and prosecute armed felons who threaten the safety of our community.”
Ray will now serve 15 years in federal prison.
The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Lansing Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nils Kessler and Olivia Ghiselli.
The case was brought as part of Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice initiative aimed at targeting violent offenders through federal prosecution.
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