CLEVELAND — Tracy Jackson is a Cleveland mother of two children, who believes a higher power stepped in to save her life after her car was riddled by gunfire on May 25.
Jackson said she was just making her way into the USA Food Mart of East 123rd Street, when a barrage of bullets hit her car and the store, while her children were inside her vehicle.
One of the stray bullets grazed the top of Jackson's scalp and doctors told her the bullet missed entering her head by less than a half-inch.
Jackson believes she survived the gunfire so she could rally her neighbors to demand the City of Cleveland do more to slow down city gun violence.
“We were about to get out of the car, and my car was shot up, it has over 30 bullet holes in it," Jackson said. “I was worried about my son, he was in the back seat, there are six holes in the back seat.”
“I’m wondering why the store is not providing the extra security that is needed if they know that this store has shootings.”
“Luckily, God said he had another plan for me, I’m here for something else. We have got to come together in these neighborhoods, we have got to do better for our children and ourselves.”
Ward 9 Cleveland Councilman Kevin Conwell told News 5 recent gunfire, and the killing of a 23-year-old man in the 400 block of East 124th Street on May 25 is connected to an ongoing turf war between two rival gangs.
Conwell pledged to contact the Cleveland Safety director and ask for stepped-up patrols, increased community policing, and the installation of ShotSpotter sound detection technology, over the next few months.
“I was very, very depressed last night when I got home," Conwell said. "And so I was thinking what can I do about it.”
"ShotSpotter is like radar, it will focus right onto a license plate or where that shot came from and we can pinpoint them there, and so we’ll know who is responsible."
“The store has created safety concerns. I moved forward 12-years ago to try and close them down, however, the residents told me in the neighborhood they have no vehicles to get to other places. It's an important source of groceries for low-income families in the neighborhood."
News 5 reached out to the store owner and he said he has been urging the city to put up a surveillance camera in his neighborhood.
He also said he will work with Conwell to install better video cameras on the outside of his business in the coming weeks.
