AKRON, Ohio — Akron Police detectives are looking at doorbell video for leads after multiple shots were fired near Seiberling Street and Canadian Avenue, just north of the Akron Fulton Airport, with bullets entering several homes, injuring two adult men and a bullet landing in an unoccupied crib.
Officers responded to the area around 9 p.m. after multiple people reported a hail of gunfire. When officers arrived, they located a 21-year-old man who had been shot in the shoulder and leg.
The shooting victim was among the 911 callers.
"I was going to my granny's and two cars just shot my car, sir. I'm bleeding," he said.
Another man, Joshua Mertz, was inside a home on Seiberling visiting family and friends when he was grazed by a bullet.
Mertz was sitting on a couch and playing with his phone when he heard what he thought was fireworks.
According to police, it was actually gunfire from a rifle and a pistol. A bullet went through a wall of the home, ripped through Mertz's jeans, and grazed his left leg, causing a burning sensation.
"I'm surprised it didn't go right through my leg. I have no explanation for that," Mertz said. "People are trying to raise families over here. You could have taken multiple lives."
In that same house, an 8-year-old boy was sitting on a different couch, but his dad decided to take him for a car ride.
Just three minutes later, a bullet came through the couch right where the boy had been sitting.
"That's crazy to me," said the boy's mother, Chelsey Dye. "I mean, thinking not even being able to sit in my living room," that's terrible.
Two other nearby houses were also hit. In one house, a bullet pierced a wall, went through a closet and landed in a baby's crib. No injuries were reported.
However, it was a terrifying experience for Lauren Munson and Chet Flowers, the parents of the baby boy.
"I'm terrified. It was petrifying. It's scary because if he would have been in there, then we might not have him here today, and to know that could happen— I just want to cry— yeah, it's scary," Munson said.
Flowers added, "It was definitely a rattling experience. Your stomach turns. It's just really freaky. It's a very freaky experience."
At a third house, a bullet went through a child's bedroom. No one was struck in that instance, police said.
No arrests have been made.Police are looking at security camera footage in the neighborhood to help identify the shooters.
Witnesses reported the suspects may have fled the area in a gray or silver sedan.
"There's trauma associated with hearing gunshots in your neighborhood, waking up to bullets coming through your home. It's concerning for all of us and it's something that we're working very hard to ensure that we make an arrest on this case," said Lt. Michael Murphy.
Anyone with information is urged to contact detectives at 330-375-2490 or call Crime Stoppers at 330-434-COPS.
