EUCLID — A 15-year-old boy faces murder charges in Cuyahoga County juvenile court.
Police say he shot five teenagers outside a Euclid fire station last Friday night on Nicholas Avenue near East 222nd.
17-year-old Sincere Rowdy died, and the gunfire hurt four others about an hour after a Euclid high school football game.
Five shot outside Euclid fire station.
New body camera video released by Euclid police shows a chaotic scene after the shootings.
"He just pulled out a gun and started shooting,” said one witness.
A ring doorbell camera captured the sounds of the gunshots.
“I’m in the kitchen and I just hear about five or six shots,” witness Lauren Mihelich said.
Police say officers were in the area for crowd control after the football game.
“It’s sick and it’s nothing new, you hear this stuff over here all the time,” Mihelich said.
Euclid police said the shooting wasn’t random. But people who work closely with victim’s families say this kind of violence is happening way too often.
“Too often we look at this being an isolated incident and that's not the case because so many variables go into young people not feeling safe or them choosing gun violence how do we talk about that,” said Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance Executive Director Myesha Watkins.
Police arrested a 15-year-old boy.
Juvenile court records show he’s been in trouble before with probation ordered after being found delinquent on aggravated riot and assault charges.
"How are we preparing these young people to deal with conflict?” Watkins said. Cleveland Peacemakers went to the hospital to meet grieving family members, including the family of Rowdy, the teen who died.
"So we can do our best to lower the chances of revictimization if life wasn’t lost and the chances of retaliation from family members who are extremely frustrated that somebody decided to end the life of their loved one,” Watkins said.
While the shooting did not happen at the Euclid football game, last season, Euclid’s football team had to change locations and find new opponents following safety concerns.
Solon forfeited a game instead of traveling to Euclid, and a Euclid - Cleveland Heights game was closed to the public.
Solon cancels game.
Watkins is calling on the county to expand resources.
"If we’re putting all of our efforts and resources into the city that too is suffering from gun violence who is going to support the other municipalities as they’re unprepared to deal with such a crisis,” Watkins said.
Euclid schools says it’s fully cooperating with police but would not answer questions about safety at upcoming games.
The next Euclid game is Friday in Columbus. That district said no additional steps are being taken.
Euclid schools sent News 5 Investigators this statement:
The Euclid Police Department has announced that they have arrested a suspect involved in Friday night’s shooting incident that happened in the community. The Euclid School District continues to fully cooperate with the EPD throughout this ongoing investigation. In compliance with state and federal law, we are required to keep all student information confidential and, therefore, will not be providing further comments at this time. Our prayers are with everyone affected by this incident, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to the safety and well-being of our entire school community.
According to Cuyahoga County, preliminary data shows that, year to date, there have been about 126 homicides.
The county administration sent this statement when asked about gun violence and county programs:
“Firearms are the second leading cause of death for children in Cuyahoga County and we know that this issue disproportionally affects our most vulnerable communities. Looking at this matter through a public health lens helps us to understand the root causes of the inequities facing these communities that leads to the increased impact of gun violence. To address this, we must utilize all available resources and engage partners at the private-public-nonprofit levels. To that end, we will continue to work on local solutions to address this deadly issue and will look to have more to announce in the coming weeks and months.”
