ARKON, Ohio — Akron police are searching for three men, or possibly teens, who fired more than 40 shots, injuring two women, in the middle of the afternoon on Friday.
The incident happened around 4 p.m. on Gridley Avenue.
Police released surveillance pictures that show three suspects exiting a silver Ford Taurus with big guns. Moments later, dozens of shots were fired.
Police have recovered the car, but the gunmen remain on the loose.
Peggy Duncan was sitting on her front porch with her husband when the hail of gunfire was unleashed.
"All of a sudden, I heard pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. I thought it was fireworks, and I heard my husband say, 'hit the porch,'" Duncan said.
Bullets shattered windows on a pickup truck and riddled Duncan's home, where she has lived for 41 years.
As Duncan ducked for cover, she realized she had been shot in the shoulder.
"I said, 'I think I might have got hit in the left shoulder because it's burning,'" she said.
Paramedics brought Duncan to Cleveland Clinic Akron General, where doctors treated and released her, but several bullet fragments remain in her back.
"They couldn't remove any of them, especially the biggest one, because it's embedded in the muscle in my shoulder," Duncan told News 5.
Duncan's sister, Penny Rankin, lives next door and said Peggy came within inches of losing her life.
"If she wouldn't have moved when she did, it probably would have got her right here, back of the head. It's literally inches from the back of her head," Rankin said. "It's just sad. It's really sad. You can't even sit on your porch and be peaceful anymore."
Police said a 25-year-old woman was also injured when she was shot in the hand. She was treated at Summa Akron City Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"They were just spraying. They weren't even considering that, mind you, it's four o'clock in the afternoon," Rankin said.
It's not the first time something so frightening has happened in that section of the street.
On April 16, more than 30 shots were fired in the middle of the night. Fortunately, no one was injured.
"I don't know where these people came from, but wherever they came from, they need to go back there because we don't act that way over here," Duncan said.
While police continue to search for the suspects, Rankin said her family has had enough.
"My sister is selling both houses. She owns both of these homes. I was supposed to buy this house, and she's like, 'I'm not letting you stay here.' She's selling both houses, and we're both moving," Rankin said.
The suspects should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information on their whereabouts is urged to call Summit County Crimestoppers at 300-434-COPS.
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