Northeast Ohio multiple fatal shootings Aug 7 2011

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A Gunman shot seven persons, including his girlfriend and a 11-year-old, in Copley, northeast Ohio late Sunday.

Late Sunday, a gunman from northeast Ohio ran through Copley, a small town of about 14,000 west of Akron, after a family argument. The gunman shot seven persons, including his girlfriend, her brother and a 11-year-old before he was shot and killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. Two more people were wounded.

Police Chief, Michael Mier, said:

“One person shot five people to death in one location, then two more were killed nearby before police killed the gunman.”

Eyewitnesses told reporters at least one of the victims was a child.

Police didn’t release yet the names or ages of the victims or armed man, but provided a chronology of the shootings that began around 11 a.m. in a middle-class neighborhood of Copley.

“A person running through the neighborhood and firing a gun” prompted calls to police.

Late Sunday, Copley Police Department said in a press release:

“At a home, the gunman shot his girlfriend, ran to a home next door and shot her brother and four others, then chased two people through some yards and shot one of them,”.

Sgt. Eric Goodwin, from Copley Police said:

“The names and ages of the victims and the gunman weren’t being released until police could tell family members, some of whom are out of state.”

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Local newspaper, the Akron Beacon Journal, reported:

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“Copley School Superintendent, Brian Poe said a township trustee told him two Copley High School students were killed during the shootings and a third youth, an 11-year-old, was also killed. Poe said the trustee told him the 11-year-old was not a Copley student.”

“A neighbor, Gilbert Elie, said he was getting ready for church when he heard gunshots and cries for help in the wooded neighborhood. He went to a house across the street and said he found a shocking scene: the woman who lived there lying in the driveway, her husband shot near the garage, and their young granddaughter and another woman shot in the front seat of a vehicle, the windows apparently blown out by gunfire.”

“Elie said his neighbors Russ and Gerdie Johnson live at the home.”

“A third woman came out of the house next door and tried to talk to Elie, he said, but their brief exchange ended abruptly when a man followed her out of the house and shot her, sending the 75-year-old Elie running for safety behind a truck.”

“He hid until he could see the gunman was gone, then returned home. Police arrived, and Elie said he heard a second round of shots coming from behind the houses and assumed officers had killed the gunman.”

“Elie described the gunman as unfriendly, a rarity on a street where most neighbors offer a wave in passing. He often worked on his car outside his house but never waved at anyone, Elie said.”

 

A 53 year-old, Jeff Kirby of nearby Norton said he was visiting his mother’s home, a block from the shootings around 10:30 a.m. when he heard gunfire. There were about 15 shots with several pauses between them.

Jeff Kirby,  said the last gunfire he heard occurred about the same time he heard sirens in the neighborhood.

The neighborhood was blocked off by police. More than 200 people assembled at a park around sunset for an impromptu candlelight vigil for the shooting victims in their town and crime victims elsewhere.

The Reverent Jeff Bogue of the Grace Church of Greater Akron prayed with them, saying it’s troubling that “such evil would come to our little township.” Few residents said they set up a memorial fund.

Copley is about 40 miles south of Cleveland.