WILLOUGHBY, OH — News 5 is committed to following through on the stories impacting your communities. We first told you about Shoregate Towers in Willowick in August of 2023 when the parking garage collapsed. Since then, we’ve been back several times after hearing a slew of complaints from residents. Today, the owner, Lemma Getachew, was on trial for a laundry list of building code violations. News 5 made good on our promise to see this story through and spent the day in the courtroom.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
Attorneys for both sides made their opening statements after the judge explained the process to the jury. Prosecutor Mandy Gwirtz told the jurors about resident complaints concerning a rat infestation, trash bags piling up in hallways and stairwells, unsafe balconies, missing safety guards and elevators that didn’t work. When defense attorney Mark O’Brien had his chance, though, he posited that all of those issues were a result of the garage collapse in early August. He told the jury the building inspector who wrote up those violations didn’t give Getachew enough time to sufficiently address the problems.
O’Brien also suggested it was the residents themselves responsible for the trash issue. He told the jury residents were asked to carry their trash downstairs to the dumpsters after the garage collapsed because it left the trash chutes inaccessible. But, O’Brien said, the residents then opted to leave their trash bags all over the hallways and stairwells instead. He also questioned whether Getachew is the one who should be held criminally liable in this case and stated the missing pieces of two unit balconies were decorative, not safety barriers.
Gwirtz called the first witness of the day, Willowick Chief Housing and Zoning Inspector Sean Brennan. He read aloud from some email exchanges between himself, Getachew, and the Shoregate Towers property manager concerning the resident complaints and the violations he found upon inspection. He also described what he found when he first went to see the situation for himself. In common areas he saw trash, roaches, and flying bugs in common areas. In the basement, he found evidence of rat infestation, including, he testified, “a large amount of feces.”
Getachew pleaded not guilty in this case. News 5 will continue to follow the trial and keep you posted.
