CANTON, Ohio — A Canton man was hospitalized early Sunday morning after he was shot through his apartment window.
According to Canton Police, 51-year-old Richard Staats was inside his downstairs apartment when someone outside fired shots through a window, striking him in the head.
Staats was transported to Aultman Hospital in critical condition.
Canton Councilman Jason Scaglione, who lives nearby, called 911 around 4:30 a.m. and told dispatchers gunshots startled him out of sleep.
"I distinctly heard eight gunshots. There was no mistaking it. They were gunshots," he said.
Patty Davis lives in the apartment above Staats.
"We heard gunfire—heard two pops—and then, we heard like six big ones," Davis said.
Davis told News 5 she crouched down in her bed, worried she was going to get shot.
"I didn't know where the gun was pointed at. It could have come straight up through my floor," she said. "He didn't deserve that. Nobody deserves that."
A Canton Police report only had a vague description of the possible shooter: a man wearing a white shirt and wearing brown pants. No one has been arrested in connection with the shooting.
Scaglione said he has talked to Canton Police leadership about possible drug activity at the building and shared with us a photo that he says shows law enforcement conducting a drug raid behind the apartments last month.
"Neighbors call me all the time about seeing drug transactions over there, people coming in, pulling up, going in a door, coming right back out," Scaglione said.
We've made a public records request for calls for service and details of any arrests or crimes that may have been committed at the location.
In the meantime, the councilman and neighbors hope police figure out who shot Staats.
"If it happened once, you got to catch that individual to make sure other things don't happen. Who know what they'll do next?" Scaglione said.
Anyone with any information regarding this case is asked to contact the Canton Police Detective Bureau at (330) 489-3144 or the Canton Communications Center at (330) 649-5800. Anonymous tips can also be sent to Tip411 or the Stark County Crime Stoppers.
Bob Jones is the Summit, Stark and Tuscarawas counties reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @BobjonesTV, or email him at BJones@wews.com.
