Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A Genoa Township teen will be sentenced later this month in connection with a shooting death.

19-year-old Max Bastien pleaded guilty as charged last month to 2nd degree murder, felony firearm, and carrying a concealed weapon in Oakland County Circuit Court.

Court records show his trial was adjourned several times and a defense motion to suppress statements was denied in early November.

Authorities said Bastien was a passenger in a vehicle driven by a Brighton man on October 9th, 2020 when he shot 18-year-old Christopher Grant Alexander in the head with a semi-automatic handgun in a dispute over a marijuana transaction in Pontiac.

Previous testimony from two of Bastien’s acquaintances who accompanied him that night indicated that the drug sale was arranged via Snapchat and that after Alexander and another Pontiac man took the drugs and got out of the vehicle, Bastien also got out, telling the pair to stop or he would shoot. Bastien’s acquaintances then heard a loud “pop” after which he got back in the car. The weapon and less than an ounce of marijuana were later recovered by police.

Bastien remains jailed without bond. He’s scheduled to be sentenced December 20th.