EASTLAKE, Ohio — The Eastlake community is now asking why and how after a 3-year-old was fatally shot on Friday.
According to police, at approximately 7:18 p.m., Eastlake officers responded to University Hospitals Lake West Medical Center for a toddler who had sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
The incident was determined to have happened at Willowood Apartments on Vine Street.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office confirms the young boy is Paul Bradley III.
Details as to how and why have yet to be released by the Eastlake Police Department as of Monday night.
Because of that unknown, it has residents uneasy.
"I don't really have too strong opinions on guns.
I mean, everyone can have their own opinion, but I think, you know, safety is first, and I don't know. I just can't see how something like that would happen personally. I don't know the situation, but it's just hard for the family. I mean, it's really devastating because it's beyond just the parents, grandparents and cousins. I mean, it impacts the community really," Alex Bryan, a tenant at Willowood Apartments, told me on Monday.
Bryan said what's concerning is that the toddler involved was at the center of a resident email in June 2025.
"We have a child in the office who was brought in by a fellow tenant. Please, if this is your child, please, come to the leasing office ASAP. Description: Age: around 2-3 years, white T-shirt, gray sweatpants, white socks," the email to Willowood Apartments tenants on June 6, 2025, reads.
Willoughby Municipal Court records reveal Eastlake officers were called to the apartment complex for the then-2-year-old Bradley III, who was found wandering the parking lot unattended.
An affidavit says no one responded to the leasing office's email to residents asking if anyone recognizes or knows who Bradley III belonged to.
Eastlake officers eventually located Bradley III's father, Paul Bradley Jr., who reportedly said he thought the child was asleep in the bed with him.
A Willoughby Municipal Court judge found Bradley Jr. guilty of one misdemeanor count of child endangerment in February.
Bradley Jr. was sentenced to 180 days in jail, 120 of which were suspended.
According to court documents, with Bradley Jr. having been sentenced on Feb. 24, 2026, that means he would have been released from jail on April 25.
"I don't know how that could have happened, but anyway, I heard that, and then now it seems like it's the same person that unfortunately this happened with," Bryan said. "It's really about how responsible you are, and it just seems like one of those situations where responsibility wasn't the leading factor."
Demontalius Clarke, another resident of Willowood Apartments, was home Friday night when the shooting happened. He said he was unaware anything had happened until he saw it flood the news and social media.
"It's bittersweet; it's not the same as it was before. Just have that eerie feeling of, wow, this happened just a few feet away from me, or, you feel for the family, you feel lost. It's a messed-up feeling, very sad," Clarke said.
Clarke's mother also lives in the complex.
He said that, as a mother, her heart hurts for Bradley III.
"She feels for the family and the loss of the baby, you know, it's sad. There's no really other words to describe it. It's just unbearable," Clarke said.
Clarke is a father as well. Having been so close to the shooting makes him concerned for his child.
"You want your kid to be out and having fun, you know, have a childhood, but it makes you skeptical because that happens any day. A bullet don't have any name on it. It's just sad that it happened here. Hopefully, we can still have our community, you come back up and still have a good time and be at peace once this thing, you know, is taken care of and healed," Clarke said.
Checking both Lake County and Willoughby Municipal Court records, no charges in connection to this shooting pop up for Bradley Jr. as of Monday night.
The Eastlake Police Department hasn't released whether anyone has been arrested in the shooting of Bradley III.
The department has requested the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's assistance.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Any updates that are provided will be added here.
