A basketball hoop stood untouched on a sunny Friday afternoon as children with backpacks walked to their homes in a North Toledo neighborhood.
The late-summer evening a week before had been typical for Nathan Sumner, 11, and his brother, Miguel Sumner, 14. Having attended their first full day of school earlier on Aug. 20 at Spring Elementary School, they played basketball outside their home in the 300 block of Austin Street.
But shortly after 8 p.m., shots rang out that struck both boys.
While Miguel remains hospitalized for his injuries, his condition is improving, relatives said. But Nathan died from his wounds on Sunday.
“It’s hard being out here — we don’t even feel safe at our home,” the boys’ sister, Jasmine Sumner, said Friday as family, friends, and neighbors gathered outside the residence to remember Nathan and to pray for Miguel’s recovery.
Candles and stuffed animals lined a brick wall in front of the home and people held each other in long embraces as they cried.
A little girl asked her mother why she was holding onto a red, heart-shaped balloon.
“They’re to go to Nathan so he can catch them and play with them,” she replied.
Family and friends wrote messages on the balloons before releasing them into the sky. They wrapped their arms around each other as they watched the balloons float higher and higher.
Then, someone grabbed a basketball and it was back to playing — but under such different circumstances.
“A kid? It doesn’t make any sense — an innocent kid playing basketball like we all used to do when we were kids,” the boys’ aunt Naomie Miltz said through tears. “They can’t even do that anymore and that’s all he wanted to do with his brothers, outside of their own house.”
Ms. Miltz said she knows Toledo police are doing everything they can to arrest and charge whoever shot her nephews, but she wants justice for her nephew. She called him her “mini me” because he was everywhere she was.
Ms. Sumner, 21, said her brother was an intelligent boy who was kind to everyone.
“He was a bright young man whose smile lit up the room, whose laugh made everyone around him laugh, and whose hugs could warm you to the bone,” she said.
Aside from playing basketball, Nathan liked riding his bike, climbing trees, and he had a love for animals. He liked catching frogs, turtles, and snakes, but he was also so appreciative of the simple things in life, Ms. Sumner said.
“He’s the kid that was so appreciative of everything from hand-me-down clothes, only one piece of candy, our simple at-home birthday parties — even if he went to the store with us and didn’t get anything for himself, he was just so happy he got to go,” she told The Blade.
Toledo police responded to the 2700 block of Elm Street for a ShotSpotter alert with 14 rounds fired. When officers arrived, they found the two boys suffering from life-threatening injuries. Both were taken to Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center.
Toledo police say witnesses told them two shooters started firing at the juveniles. They have not been identified and no charges had been filed as of Friday evening.
An occupied vehicle was also struck during the shooting, but no one inside was injured.
A GoFundMe account exceed its $3,500 goal Friday, with donations still coming to help the Sumner family pay for a cremation ceremony for the boy. The family also plans to auction a gift card, courtesy of NeedleMasters tattoo studio.
Anyone with information about the shooting should contact the Crime Stopper program at 419-255-1111.
First Published August 27, 2021, 11:16 p.m.
