Nathan Allen Kenney was shot and killed during an alleged drug deal gone bad

Police say three suspects held in Saturday night's killing of a man in a church parking lot had met the victim there to buy drugs, and possibly to rob him.
Nathan Allen Kenney, 19, was shot and killed during an alleged drug deal gone bad.The suspects -- an 18-year-old woman and two 19-year-old men -- were to be charged today with crimes stemming from the shooting death of Nathan Allen Kenney, 19.Although police say the suspects were acquainted with Kenney, who was shot about 9:30 p.m. outside the Kentwood Community Church, the victim's girlfriend said he was not involved in the transaction and was not the intended target.
"That's not what he did, selling drugs," said Bethany Dresser, who dated Kenney for six years after meeting him while both attended school in Wayland. "It was just him who ended up getting shot."Dressler said Kenney, the father of her 1-year-old son, Nathan Kenney Jr., was driving a friend to the church lot the night he was killed. The friend witnessed the shooting, but was not hurt, she said.That friend had not spoken with anyone who knew Kenney, leaving it unclear what happened Friday night, Dressler said.Police responded to reports of shots fired outside the church at 1200 60th St. SE and found Kenney inside a vehicle that had hit a snow bank. A witness reported a suspicious car leaving the scene.Around 11 p.m., Kentwood Police Sgt. Button Lee Isle spotted a vehicle fitting that description near 60th Street and Kalamazoo Avenue SE. Police arrested two people inside the car and later tracked down a third suspect using information gathered after the traffic stop.The suspects have cooperated with investigators, who met with prosecutors Monday to determine charges, Kent County sheriff's Lt. Kevin Kelley said.The suspects, whose names were withheld pending charges, had arranged a meeting with the victim in the church parking lot to buy marijuana, and "then it just got out of hand from there," Kelley said Monday."It looks like it was a planned drug buy, even a potential robbery," Kelley said.He said the suspects have provided police consistent statements about events preceding the shooting.The woman who was arrested has no previous criminal record. One of the men has misdemeanor convictions for use of marijuana and providing police false information, police records show. The other has convictions for misdemeanor use of a narcotic and receiving and concealing stolen property, records show.Kenny lived with Dresser and cared for the couple's child while she worked."I do not trust my son with anyone other than him," she said. "He's the best dad and a good guy. He did a lot of good stuff that isn't coming out because he got shot."Dresser said Kenney often fed the homeless and once took up a bottle collection for a family who had lost their home.She acknowledged his convictions for third-degree home invasion and domestic violence in Ottawa County last year, and that he was arrested last month for larceny and resisting arrest.
"He did some stupid stuff once in a while, but it was always to try and support us and to do the best he could for me and his little boy," she said.

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