Alexander Lamar Banks Jr. Charged After Alleged Online Threats, Family Slaying

Alexander Lamar Banks Jr., 21, was charged with nine felonies after a violent assault in Delta Township on Feb. 13 that left a 3-year-old girl dead and three adults hospitalized. Prosecutors charged Banks with first-degree premeditated murder, three counts of assault with intent to murder, and six weapons charges - five of those weapons counts listed as felonies - exposure that carries a potential sentence of up to life in prison if he is convicted.

Court filings and the probable-cause affidavit describe planning on the day before the attack. On Feb. 12, investigators say Banks took a 12-gauge shotgun from his father’s room, hid it in the garage, and filled a backpack with shotgun shells from the garage. That same affidavit reports Banks used his father’s sedan the next day.

The affidavit lays out the Feb. 13 sequence near Green Meadows Lane and Farmstead Lane at about 5:30 p.m. The document quotes Banks driving around his block repeatedly and then seeing a family walking down the street: "He drove around the block in his neighborhood a couple times and saw a family walking down the street." Investigators say he intentionally crashed the sedan into the 36-year-old father, exited the vehicle, dropped the backpack, and opened fire, "appearing to strike the father, mother and child."

The affidavit states Banks ran back to the backpack, reloaded and fired an additional shot, then beat the father with the shotgun. After a 72-year-old woman ran toward the scene to render aid, the documents say Banks struck her with the shotgun and then "used it as a 'blunt object' and struck her repeatedly." The affidavit also describes him grabbing the 33-year-old mother’s hair and "began pulling it as if he was trying to break her neck." The 3-year-old girl was killed in the attack, investigators report.

Shortly after the assault, officers responded to a separate report near 3715 W. Saginaw Highway in Lansing Township that described a "Black male near 3715 W. Saginaw Highway in Lansing Twp. 'saying he shot somebody,'" the affidavit records. Police located and arrested Banks nearby at about 6 p.m., and he was taken into custody.

At arraignment Banks "stood mute," and Eaton County District Judge Adrianne Van Langevelde ordered him held without bond and ordered a competency evaluation. Court documents show the evaluation will proceed as part of pretrial proceedings while prosecutors prepare formal charging materials.

Victim-status updates in local records show the 3-year-old child was killed; the child’s 33-year-old mother and 36-year-old father were listed in stable condition as of Feb. 15; the 72-year-old woman who intervened remained in critical condition as of Feb. 15. A community fundraiser tied to the family reported more than $55,000 raised of a $100,000 goal as of Feb. 17.

Investigators point to the defendant’s own statements about online threats as the alleged motive: Banks told police he "had been receiving threats online and people were telling him he had to kill someone to save his family." Prosecutors have relied on the probable-cause affidavit for charging details; additional court filings and the Eaton County Prosecutor’s formal charging documents will provide the full list of counts and evidence as the case moves forward.