CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Division of Police is investigating after a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon in the 600 block of East 113th Street, near Glenville High School. According to police, the shooting happened just after 4 p.m. The teen was found on the ground in a field and pronounced dead at the scene.
On Thursday morning, Cleveland Police identified the 16-year-old as Devonte Johnson, of Cleveland. A possible second victim was driven away from the area in a private car, police said.
On Thursday night, Johnson's loved ones and the community held a vigil near where he was shot and killed.
“I’m his auntie, I watched him grow up since he was a little boy,” his aunt said at the vigil. “I’ve always known him as being respectful, he turned out to be very awesome. Every time I saw him or heard any news he was playing football, he was running that ball he was running that ball doing his thing.”
The community had a call to action as well.
“As sisters and brothers of African American color, we have got to do better and come together as a family,” said another vigil attendee. “We’ve got to start somewhere to try to reach out to young people to let them know that there is a better way — problems that you have among each other, it can be resolved without guns.”
Glenville High School football coach and Ginn Academy director Ted Ginn Sr. told News 5 that Johnson played sporadically on the football team last season and Ginn was trying to bring him back this year, not just for his talent, but also to give him direction and support.
"I just talked to him last week," Ginn Sr. said. "Everybody in the neighborhood was talking to him, but he [said], 'I’m good.' We were fighting to get him and eventually we probably would have gotten him, but time ran out. We have to do a better job of hugging and corralling our children and giving them what they need to survive."
Cleveland Ward 9 councilman Kevin Conwell says he plans to knock on doors in hopes the right tip in this case could lead to an arrest.
“Parents shouldn’t be burying their children,” he said. “If we had community policing in the neighborhood, polcie officers can hear things before they happen.”
The shooting comes just one day after mayor Justin Bibb announced the number of murders in Cleveland are down a modest 7 percent compared to the same time last year.
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“Ninety percent of all gun-related homicides in the city of Cleveland are young men of color, ages 18 to 29. We know where the problem is, and we as a city must continue to focus our resources and investments on addressing that structural issue,” Bibb said. “The department is doing a better job of what I call ‘precision policing.’ More intelligence, more of a focus on hotspots, getting more additional resources from the federal government — and the state government as well — to augment our abilities at CPD.”
"We need to all come together and embrace our community, and that’s everybody’s job," Ginn Sr. added.
Police didn't say what led up to the shooting or provide any description of the shooter or shooters.
The matter remains under investigation.
Anyone with information regarding this matter is asked to contact homicide investigators at 216-623-5464. Anonymous information can be provided by callng Crimestoppers at 216-25-CRIME. A cash reward of up to $5,000 may be available.
Editor's Note: Cleveland Police first reported the age of the shooting victim as 18. An update Thursday morning from Cleveland Police corrected the boy's age to 16.
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