A double-fatal homicide Sunday in North Toledo came less than 24 hours after an East Toledo shooting left a teenager fighting for life.
Toledo police were dispatched at 8:27 p.m. to the 800 block of Mulberry Street after three separate ShotSpotter alerts. Officers found Jerry McGee, 45, of the 2400 block of Lawton Ave., lying in the street and Stephen Turner, 33, of the 1100 block of Prospect Ave., on the porch of a home. Both men suffered at least one gunshot wound, according to a report.
11/17/19 officers were dispatched to 800 Mulberry. There, they found victims Stephen Turner & Jerry McGee suffering from at least one gun shot. The victims were transported to the hospital where they later died. Anyone with info is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111 pic.twitter.com/1RtIPDILdz
— Toledo Police (@ToledoPolice) November 18, 2019
Both Turner and McGee were treated at the scene and transported to Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center, where they later died.
Lt. Kellie Lenhardt, spokesman for Toledo police, said Monday there is no additional information available as detectives are investigating leads. No one has been arrested.
Lucas County Corner Dr. Diane Scala-Barnett said McGee was shot twice, once in the head and once in the lower back, with either of the wounds potentially fatal.
Turner died of a single gunshot wound to the head, she said. The autopsy was done Monday.
Last week, U.S. Marshals asked for help locating Turner, who was wanted on charges of aggravated robbery with a firearm, aggravated burglary, and grand theft of a motor vehicle. He was accused of entering a home July 7 in the 3900 block of Airport Highway and brandishing a firearm to the residents of the home before robbing them and stealing their vehicle.
Lieutenant Lenhardt said detectives are exploring whether the shooting was connected to Turner’s burglary case.
“It’s certainly plausible that it is related, but that has not been confirmed,” she said.
The ShotSpotter alerts reported a set of three shots and a second set of four shots from a home in the 800 block of Mulberry Street, and four shots from a home in the 1300 block of North Michigan Street. At least one shell casing was recovered from the North Michigan address, according to a report.
The home’s resident, Barbara Hill, said Monday the shots seemed to start behind her home and sounded like two separate weapons being fired.
“It was in the backyard like they was sitting on the porch just target practicing, just that close,” she said. “It sounded like they were shooting at each other or someone was shooting at them and they were hitting back.”
Ms. Hill did not see any part of the shooting as she and her young son took cover. She did not emerge from her home until she knew police were at the scene.
“There’s too many bullets flying for me to try to be nosy,” she said, estimating she heard eight to 10 shots.
Her backyard has a clear view of the porch on Mulberry Street around the corner where Turner was found wounded. A moving van was parked in the front yard at that location Monday afternoon and several people there declined to comment.
Ms. Hill said a neighbor’s home across North Michigan Street was also “sprayed with bullets.” That home is visible from behind Ms. Hill’s residence through an opening between houses. No one answered the door there Monday.
Throughout the past several years, Ms. Hill said homes in the neighborhood, including her own, have been broken into and she is accustomed to hearing gunfire from farther away.
The city of Toledo has now had 31 homicides so far this year.
The double-fatal follows an East Toledo shooting about 22 hours earlier in which a 16-year-old girl was shot in the head. Police continue to investigate both incidents, and anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111.
First Published November 18, 2019, 11:38 a.m.
