Two officers were involved in a shooting on Cleveland's east side Wednesday evening.
Police say the shooting happened in the area of East 93rd Street and St. Clair Avenue.
Officer involved shooting on E 93rd just north of St. Clair. Witnesses saw heavy gunfire between CPD & another person on front lawn @WEWS pic.twitter.com/nU5H3OPORi
— James Gherardi (@JamesGherardi) October 25, 2017
Police say the violence started with a gunfight. Officers responded to shots fired in the area of E. 91 and St. Clair Avenue around 4:50 p.m. A citizen flagged down police and directed them to the area of the shooting.
When officers approached the area, two men, guns in hand, ran from the officers. Police began chasing the two men. During the pursuit, one man fell to the ground and a handgun fell to the ground. The man got up and continued running.
Police say officers asked the men to stop and put their hands up and the man who fell down produced a second weapon. At this time, shots were fired by one officer.
The suspect, Antonio Levison, 33, of Cleveland, was shot and taken to the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, where he later died. No officers were injured.
"It's always tragic when we lose someone, it's always tragic when there's a shooting, but the big question is retaliation for what happened today, my concerns about continued violence," said Cleveland City Councilman Jeff Johnson (D-Ward 10).
This area of Cleveland is no stranger to violence. Wednesday's shooting is the third just this week in the neighborhood.
Homicides are up and Johnson, who represents the neighborhood, is begging police to do more.
"I need more police over here, I need to be able to catch people when they commit crimes so that they're not repeating their crimes, that's my immediate need," he said.
The Homicide Unit and the Use of Force Investigation Team were called to the scene to investigate. Two handguns were found.
On October 31, Cleveland police said Officer Steven Ferdorko and Officer Katara Moore were the two officers involved in the shooting.
Police said only Ferdorko fired his weapon during the shooting.
