CLEVELAND — Cleveland police are searching for a man accused of shooting two people near West 25th Street and Clark Avenue with a blow dart gun on Monday afternoon.
At approximately 4 p.m., the Cleveland Police Second District received a report of a woman who had been shot with a blow dart gun in the 2700 block of Clark Avenue, police said.
Upon arrival, officers located a 56-year-old woman who had been struck by several long-needle darts.
According to a police report, the victim said that a male she had only met in passing a month ago near Castle Avenue struck her in the face.
"She only recalls him stating to her, 'B****, stay off the block,'" the report stated.
Police said the initial confrontation was near West 30th Street and Clark Avenue at a bus stop.
Shortly after that, the victim was in the rear parking lot of Family Dollar on Clark Avenue when the suspect pulled out a blow dart gun and fired several projectiles at her, striking her approximately five times, police said.
The victim was taken to MetroHealth, where she's scheduled to have the last remaining dart surgically removed from inside her liver, police said.
While at MetroHealth, Cleveland police said they discovered a second victim, a 40-year-old man, being treated for similar wounds.
"The victim stated that he was in the area of West 25th Street when an unknown male shot him with a blow dart. He reported running from the area and calling 911. The victim was subsequently transported to the hospital for treatment," Cleveland police said.
Kamryn Smith, an employee at 7 Cravings Soulfood, was shocked to learn of the incident on Tuesday.
"I don't like that. I mean, it's real nice over here, but this shouldn't be… people be having kids and people and stuff outside, so I don't know why they would even do something like that," Smith told me.
Located on West 25th Street for roughly two years, 7 Cravings Soulfood serves a wide array of plates from tacos, fish, wings, banana pudding and more.
In that time, Smith described the neighborhood as busy, but safe and, for the most part, quiet.
"Busy. It be busy cause, you know, we’re on the main street. There's always security or something, somebody coming to check up on us," Smith said.
The Cleveland Police Second District, in coordination with the Cleveland Police Real Time Crime Center, is actively investigating both incidents.
As of Tuesday night, there's been no word on an arrest in this case.
The suspect, though, according to CPD records, is looking at a possible charge of felonious assault (aggravated).
"He needs to get locked up for sure because we don't want him to come here and mess up our establishment," Smith said.
Right now, blow dart guns are not illegal in Ohio, as they are not classified as hunting devices.
There isn't any pending state legislation to change that, nor have we heard of anything on the books in Cleveland.
