A man sitting in his parked car in front of Marathon Gas was shot in a robbery attempt and was being treated at University Hospitals for gunshot wounds to the face and right hip, according to police.
Three men armed with automatic handguns and another man approached the victim, identified as Tyrone Crawford, 23, and a woman, identified as Tiara Finley, sitting with him in his vehicle in front of Marathon Gas, located at 14021 St. Clair Ave., according to the woman's police report. A suspect pulled Crawford out of the driver's seat and demanded his belongings.
The suspect and Crawford struggled, according to Finley, who said she could not see after that because one of the suspects shoved and held her face against the vehicle.
Three men joined in the fight with the victim, according to another witness' police report.
Both Finley and a witness reported hearing three shots, officials said.
Finley thought three of the suspects got into a light colored Grand AM or Grand Prix and sped off. Another witness said he saw two men get in the car and one fled on foot toward East 140th Street and threw a gun.
After the incident, a 17-year-old boy who claimed to be Finley's cousin approached her while an officer was with her. Finley said the boy was not her cousin. A witness to the shooting told police that the boy was in the suspects' vehicle, according to authorities.
Police handcuffed the boy and detained him. He told police he had been drinking gin prior to the incident, authorities stated.
Officers reviewed surveillance video at the gas station and saw the suspected vehicle at a gas pump with three black men getting out. A witness said he saw the whole incident while parked at a pump and saw three black men with guns get out of the car and begin to fight with Crawford near the front of the store. The witness said two shots were heard and he watched the suspect fire an additional shot at Crawford while he was on the ground. He then said he saw two men leave in the vehicle and one ran away on foot.
When police interviewed Finley at University Hospitals while Crawford was being treated for his injuries, she told officers she thought the suspects may be the same people involved in a shooting at 137th Street and Woodworth Road in East Cleveland on April 12. She said that two of them had the street names "Jayo and Smoke," according to police.
