CLEVELAND — Robert Allison and his wife have been living in fear since Feb. after Allison reports his Cleveland Collinwood neighborhood home has been hit by pellet gunfire at all hours of the day and night.
Allison showed News 5 how the siding on his home is filled with dozens of small holes and a broken window due to the constant pellet gun attacks.
Allison said he's filed four reports with Cleveland Police Fifth District headquarters, but the pellet gun assault on his house continues.
“Somebody has got something against me, what I don’t know," Allison said. "Pellets hit hard, pop, pop, see all of them holes."
Allison said he's set up security cameras, but he's still worried about the safety of both himself and his wife.
"For my wife and myself, I am concerned about getting hit in the head, eye, or just get hit, period," Allison said. "In your own house, you have to be scared, I don’t think so.”
Ward 8 Cleveland Councilman Michael Polensek said he's well aware of the pellet gun problems citywide and was instrumental in the passage of Cleveland's 2002 pellet gun law, deeming pellet guns a weapon and banning them at all public places.
Polensek said teens brandishing weapons is a growing issue in 2023, and he has an urgent message for all parents.
"We had reports over the weekend in the city again where they are waving them outside windows, in fact near Fifth District police headquarters, waving them out the windows, you don’t know if it’s a gun or a pellet gun," Polensek said. “If your child has a pellet gun or a BB gun, I would urge you make sure that it does not leave the house, and I would also question why do you have it? Why is it there?”
Polensek said the Fifth District police and the city community relations department are investigating the case. Polensek said those caught using a pellet gun against a person or personal property could be subject to a felony charge, which could carry thousands in fines and significant jail time.
“If you point that at a police officer, we all know what they look like, you can’t tell the difference between that and a real firearm," Polensek said. “If you’re a homeowner and someone shoots at you or points it at you, you have a right to defend yourself, so then there’s the other part of that. It could get really ugly.”
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