A woman was found fatally shot in a front yard in Cleveland early Thursday morning. A 7-month-old baby, unharmed, was found beside her.
The shooting happened around 3:30 a.m. on Harland Avenue, which is where Shirley Mclaughlin has lived for 15 years. She told News 5 she was startled in the middle of the night by the sounds of gunshots and a baby crying.
“I heard a baby hollering. It was very obvious and very loud. That's very unusual at 3 a.m. in the morning, and it's about 30 degrees outside for a baby to be hollering. So I called the police,” she said.
Mclaughlin said Cleveland Police arrived quickly. According to EMS, they found 23-year-old Dimesha Wright with a gunshot wound. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
A second person was injured but had not been shot. That individual drove themselves to a nearby hospital, police said.
The baby was transported to the hospital to be checked out.
For Mclaughlin, she’s shocked because her neighborhood usually stays quiet.
“Never, never, never. This is the first time, never, this is a very safe street. I have jogged and walked at 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock in this neighborhood. Never have anything like this happened before,” she said.
Police arrested a 21-year-old man in connection to the incident. No charges have been filed. The shooting is still under investigation.
News 5's Mike Holden was on scene during those early morning hours.
