Residents of a quiet South Toledo neighborhood are trying to understand a shooting that took place on Steeplebush Drive Saturday night and left a 17-year-old dead.
Several rounds of gunfire were fired about 10:20 p.m. along that street, witnesses said.
Jacobie Wilson, 17, was struck at least once during the shooting. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died. His death was the 35th homicide in the city this year and the eighth this month.
A crime log filed in response to an earlier incident in the 1000 block of Steeplebush reports that a 21-year-old man, Jamal Fox, had been shot at about four times, with at least one bullet striking his car. It did not indicate if there were any injuries to Mr. Fox or other passengers who he said were inside that vehicle with him.
Neighborhood resident Felicia Jay said she and her godmother ducked for cover when she heard the sound of gunshots approach the grassy lawn between her house and her neighbor’s.
When she looked out her back window, she saw a small crowd gathered in the field behind her house, where Mr. Wilson had collapsed and was bleeding. Because it was dark, Ms. Jay said, it was difficult to make out faces. But she quickly ran back to the house to fetch towels for him.
It’s the first time a shooting like this occurred in the neighborhood, she said, which was usually quiet after dark.
“This is a family-oriented neighborhood. There are seniors. It’s heartbreaking. The violence happened so quickly,” she said.
Several houses in the neighborhood were also struck by stray bullets, though no bystanders were injured.
One homeowner said a bullet had entered through the side of his house, passed through the ceiling plaster, and likely lodged in the opposite wall.
The homicide investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111.
First Published August 16, 2020, 2:49 p.m.
