Advocates demanding an emergency homeless shelter gathered outside Lansing City Hall on Monday, Oct. 12, citing five deaths along the River Trail in the past year.

The rally took place roughly an hour before the Lansing City Council's 7 p.m. meeting, according to a report by the Lansing State Journal. Among those attending was Sariah Woodruff, 27, wearing a T-shirt honoring her father, 57-year-old Louis Woodruff.

Louis Woodruff was found injured Aug. 30 in the 200 block of East Cesar Chavez Avenue. Police and family said he was found unconscious with facial trauma. He died Sept. 1, according to WKAR’s account of the Oct. 2 police briefing. Lansing police are investigating his death as a homicide.

Five men who were homeless have died from apparent violence along the trail over the past year, most in north Lansing. Four suffered head or facial injuries. The fifth, 22-year-old Daniel Lusk, was stabbed. As of the Oct. 2 briefing, one death’s cause remained undetermined and another medical examiner finding was pending, WKAR reported.

Edward Joseph Smith, 23, has been charged with open murder in Lusk's case, according to WILX, citing the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office. He is presumed innocent. Police believe the injuries occurred during early morning hours. At the Oct. 2 briefing, Chief Rob Backus identified the men’s shared race and gender — white men — as part of the possible pattern investigators were examining.

Signs at the rally read "Open Emergency Shelter," "Keep Our Homeless Safe" and "Everyone Should Sleep Safely."

Greg Pratt, the rally organizer and leader of the nonprofit Michigan Hope, said he doesn't think the city is doing enough. Khadja Erickson, executive director of the Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center and housing chair for NAACP Lansing, said existing shelters lack the capacity.

Erickson told the Lansing State Journal that an alternative shelter was needed for people unable to use existing facilities, even if it operated only until the investigation concluded.

Both organizers said unhoused residents are scared, sleeping during the daytime or in shifts to avoid being attacked at night.

Backus stepped outside city offices during the rally to speak with advocates. He said officials are open to establishing an emergency shelter and that talks about funding have begun, the Lansing State Journal reported.

WILX reported that Tevin Bax, an unhoused Lansing resident at the rally, said he had been staying at an encampment on a vacant lot. Bax said the property owner had given residents until Friday, Oct. 16, to leave.

Scott Bean, a spokesperson for Mayor Andy Schor, said preliminary conversations have started but that a shelter would need a building, furniture, staffing and programming. He called the potential costs "fairly significant," according to the Lansing State Journal.

As we reported Oct. 9, the mayor has pushed back on viral claims about a serial killer. Police have deployed portable cameras and added patrols along the trail since June. WILX reported Oct. 2 that Backus said police were working with advocacy groups to keep unhoused residents away from the trail during early morning hours and had seen a 50% reduction in people in those areas.

Anyone with information about the River Trail cases can call the Lansing Police Department tip line at 517-483-6023, according to WKAR.