EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — Dawn Jones of East Cleveland lives just 200 feet from the scene of a Labor Day multiple shooting that claimed the life of one and injured ten others, an incident that has Jones and her neighbors wondering about the effectiveness of police presence and response.
Jones told News 5 she believes East Cleveland police were overwhelmed by the growing crowd that spilled onto a busy Euclid Avenue during the annual Shaw High School reunion, and resulted in the multiple shooting in front of a neighborhood bar just before 3 AM.
Jones said several hundred people and hundreds of vehicles packed neighborhood streets around her Lakefront Avenue home, causing a major disruption just before the shooting.
Bar owners told News 5 they followed guidelines closing at 2 a.m., but residents like Jones wonder why police didn't do a better job in dispersing the hundreds of people lingering on the streets during the 45 minutes leading up to the shooting.
“Ten people shot, one person killed, so it’s alarming because you just don’t expect this to happen," Jones said. “Everybody was still partying at 3 o’clock or ten minutes to three, so the police did not shut it down like they were supposed to."
“They should have had more police here directing traffic. Probably should have been two to three officers per corner, because you just can’t control that many people.”
Jones wants the city to examine police response and deployment when it comes to major outdoor events.
News 5 reached out East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King to get his thoughts on the multiple shooting and police deployment, but we're still waiting for a response.
Other East Cleveland leaders like councilwoman at-large Patricia Blochowiak are demanding increased police staffing, and better police crowd control training.
“Officers weren’t dealing with the traffic, they weren’t dealing with the people and what they were doing on the street, Blochowiak said “Anybody who deals with large crowds should have training in deescalation and mediation.”
Meanwhile, police are still searching for the man who fired the shots into the crowd, and are urging anyone with information about the the multiple shooting to contact the East Cleveland detective bureau at 216-681-2162.
