AKRON, Ohio — Akron police detectives are trying to find the person responsible for a shooting on Sunday evening that left an 18-year-old man dead and another 18-year-old in the hospital. Police said the shooting happened around 9 p.m. in the 1100 block of 5th Avenue near Chittenden Street in East Akron.
According to Akron police, officers arrived on scene and found the two 18-year-old men with multiple gunshot wounds near Robinson Community Learning Center. A third man, 19, was not injured. Police said the two victims were rushed to Summa Health Akron City Hospital. One of the victims, Dierre Smith Jr., was pronounced dead a short time later.
The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office said Smith died of a gunshot wound to the chest. The second victim remains in stable condition.
Cheryl Singleton, who lives near the corner of 5th Avenue and Chittenden Street, was in her upstairs bedroom when she was startled by the sound of gunfire.
“[My husband] heard the gunshots and then he came running upstairs to help get me out of bed,” Singleton said. “This is not the first time [we’ve heard gunfire]. This is getting to be a regular occurrence around here. Yeah, I’m fearful, but I trust in God. We don’t have a choice because housing [is tough right now.]”
While aesthetically pleasing, Singleton said the two recently-built storm water basins that are located on her block have inadvertently become a haven for criminal activity. The basins have paths allowing pedestrians to cut from one street to another and the lack of lighting leaves the area very dark at night.
“Basically, [criminals] can do anything they want to in there, especially at night,” Singleton said. “They have a tendency to run through [the retention basins]. My husband was even attacked. He was hit by two guys trying to rob him. Luckily, he was a boxer back in the day and he knew how to hold himself together.”
