EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — Frustrations percolated in East Cleveland Monday afternoon as residents and city leaders gathered, calling for change to help reduce crime during a vigil to remember a 65-year-old man shot and killed outside Forest Hill Terrace Apartments.
Neighbors said Walter "Georgio" Mason was shot in the apartment complex's parking lot after an argument with another man on September 29.
Mason died at the hospital the next day of a gunshot wound to the chest.
"That man was a good man," said Kim Williams, who lived in the same building as Mason. "He was harmless. I believe he was harmless."
She called the shooting senseless.
"A lot of people are fed up with these shenanigans, with this foolishness," said Williams. "It's ridiculous."
People living in the complex said they're fed up with the violence.
"It's every single day," said Kim Hammett. "You gotta go in, close your doors, you can't come out. Can't walk down the street. What do you do?"
City leaders called on residents to be vigilant and have a presence in their neighborhoods.
"Make it known that we're connected in this space and so when they're out of order, out of line, or visiting with malice in their hearts, show them some love in a way that makes them want to leave because it's a loving and a kind space," said East Cleveland City Councilman Timothy Austin.
But in a city where residents said crime is like "clockwork," and safety has "retired," there's skepticism.
"We've been saying we're coming together for a million years," said Hammett. "We haven't done it. When are we going to do it?"
East Cleveland's acting police chief said investigators identified the suspected shooter who killed Mason.
He said an arrest warrant for murder was issued for Alan Griffin and urged him to turn himself in to police.
