CLEVELAND — The neighbors of a man who was fatally shot in broad daylight while mowing his lawn at his home in Kamm's Corners say the suspect was a known problem in their neighborhood.
It happened around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the 15700 block of Munn Road.
According to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office, the man has been identified as 68-year-old Thomas Overall. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Neighbors told News 5 that Overall was loved by the community.
The suspect, later identified as Bryan Hurt, 66, was found dead in a car in the Rocky River Reservation from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Watch coverage of the immediate aftermath of the shooting:
Kamm's Corners resident Debbie Orlosky said the neighborhood is a place where kids play on the street and everyone knows each other. But Hurt, who lived nearby, was known to do strange things, and his presence was problematic for the last 25 years.
"All of our kids grew up together. Now we're going to the weddings of the kids who grew up here. I mean, we could leave our kids on the street. Everything was wonderful," Orlosky said. "This person, the other neighbor, the perpetrator. I don't know if he snapped or what happened, but he just would be doing bizarre things in the neighborhood."
Orlosky said that Hurt would do things that left other neighbors scratching their heads, wondering why he would sometimes set people on edge.
"He was a bully who just preyed on everyone. It didn't matter if you were male, female, adult, child. It was scary," she said. "He would drive down the street. He would take pictures of houses. He would block people's cars so you couldn't get in. He would pull out of his driveway at four in the morning and lay on the horn and wake everyone up."
The problems went on for years, and Orlosky said neighbors contacted the police, their council person and anyone who would listen, example after example of his behavior.
"All of us said, somebody is going to die, somebody is going to die. And here, on this day, we lost our neighbor, and we shouldn't have, because something should have been done prior to this, something should have been done, and it wasn't. Nobody listened," she said.
Orlosky wishes someone had followed up on the complaints.
"A convicted felon shouldn't have access to guns. When mulitple neighbors call for different reasons and complain, that should be looked into," Orlosky said.
It wasn't just a couple of people who had bad encounters with Hurt, Orlsoky said.
"The perpetrator ... He would entice people, whether it was (Overall) or any of us," she said. "I think deep down, we all thought that we all knew he wasn't a stable individual. We all knew that, all of us.
"This is a good neighborhood. This never should have happened."
Orlosky said everyone was fond of her neighbor, Overall, who was gunned down in the middle of the day.
"He was the greatest...We just, we just loved him; all of us," she said.
During a town hall meeting Wednesday evening, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb talked about the shooting.
"I know today has been a challenging day in the neighborhood," Bibb said. "Our hearts and our prayers are with the victims of the murder-suicide that took place earlier today."
Cleveland Division of Police Deputy Chief Jarod Schlacht spoke as well.
"When an incident like this happens, it sends shock waves to a neighborhood, especially a close-knit neighborhood such as that one," Schlacht said.
During the meeting, Cleveland Ward 17 Councilman Charles Slife addressed Overall's death.
"He was a really great man, a really religious man. Please keep him in your prayers, as well as all of his neighbors who are just trying to understand why this unspeakable tragedy would happen," Slife said.
Slife acknowledged that the shooting suspect was a problematic neighbor. He said the city was aware of the complaints.
"Legally, you can't remove someone from their property if they have a legal right to be there," Slife told us in a later interview.
The councilman said the city intervened in the ways they could, but they were not aware of weapons in his home.
Cleveland Director of Public Safety Wayne Drummond said the shooting remains under investigation and patrol officers will provide additional "special attention in the area to make sure everyone feels comfortable and protected."
Slife acknowledged that the shooting suspect was a problematic neighbor.
Cleveland Director of Public Safety Wayne Drummond said the shooting remains under investigation and patrol officers will provide additional "special attention in the area to make sure everyone feels comfortable and protected."
