Toledo experiences another spike in gun violence

May 18—Ten people have been shot in Toledo since Saturday, including two who died, in what some Toledo city council members say is a troubling spike in gun violence that continues to plague the city.

"That last night shooting at Sleepy Hollow, it was during a vigil," Toledo Councilman Cerssandra McPherson said. "Have we lost all our humanity? There is no code of ethics. Even in the Mafia days, there were certain times when they wouldn't do certain things."

She was speaking of the most recent homicide of a man, who was fatally shot Sunday evening during a memorial service in a southwest Toledo park. The gathering was for another homicide victim who was shot earlier in the day.

Toledo police said 24-year-old John Graves suffered at least one gunshot wound about 7:12 p.m. Sunday at Sleepy Hollow Park, 4035 Overlook Blvd., near Dorr Street and Richards Road.

Mr. Graves was rushed to ProMedica Toledo Hospital where he died, police said.

A second person shot in the hand is expected to survive.

The vigil was for Armonte Rodgers, of the 3800 block of Berkeley Drive, who was pronounced dead at University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital, after he was shot earlier in the day in the parking lot of the Spotlight Lounge. Another man also shot at the same time is expected to survive, police said.

Police said four more people were injured in two separate, unrelated shootings over the weekend, three in one incident and one in the other.

On Saturday, another person was shot in the 1200 block of Collingwood Boulevard. He was shot in the leg in a drive-by shooting and is expected to survive, police said.

Then, about 1:55 a.m. Sunday, three men were shot — each at least once — at D'Icon Spirits and Grill in the 4200 block of Airport Highway in South Toledo. They are also expected to live.

Most recently, at 7:24 p.m. Monday, a man was shot in the 200 block of Lake Street, which is in North Toledo near Lagrange Street and south of East Manhattan Boulevard.

He was taken to a local hospital, but his condition was not immediately known.

Hours before that, another man was hospitalized after he was shot at Byrneport Apartments.

Toledo City Councilman Tiffany Preston Whitman said the most important thing for city leaders is addressing gun violence.

"I think that gun violence is a public health issue that affects everyone...," Ms. Whitman said. "We need to look at the full community needs such as economic development, need for education, and the need for more overall care of our neighborhoods."

She also said Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz's initiative to reduce gun violence, launched in February, may prove useful "if we give it time."

Earlier in May, The Blade wrote about Mayor Kapszukiewicz wanting to contract with Cure Violence Global Inc. to bolster that initiative.

The Chicago-based nonprofit organization was founded in 2000 by a former head of the World Health Organization's Intervention Development Unit and addresses gun violence as if it were a contagious illness.

JoJuan Armour, program director of the city's gun violence reduction initiative, has told The Blade training by Cure Violence will allow him and his team of yet-to-be-hired violence interrupters to engage at-risk individuals in a productive way and de-escalate tensions.

Toledo City Council member Sam Melden said he is "a big fan" of the mayor's initiative.

"I am excited where it's headed," Mr. Melden said of the initiative. "We have to think about community support and programs like that."

He also said the community and the country as a whole need "to get to a place where it's harder to access guns, where guns are kept more safely, out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them."

"We live in a country with more guns than human beings," Mr. Melden said. "Coming out of a global pandemic, we are well aware how hard it is to get different things — to access unemployment benefits, to find a job .... It's easier to get a gun and that's a problem."

Councilman Ms. McPherson said residents should be realistic in their expectations.

"The thing is there's not going to be a quick fix," Ms. McPherson said. "And that's what I think people are expecting with ... [the mayor's] initiative."

"It's gonna take time. It's gonna take collaboration on everyone's part. And we can reach out to the young people who are feeling the need to retaliate. How can we get the message out to them that retaliation is just not good for the community, not good for the family?"

Ms. McPherson said a way to get that message through would be by reaching former criminals who have been rehabilitated.

"It's gonna be someone who they'd listen to — other gangbangers, those who were in it and are out now," she said.

Councilman Cecelia Adams, who since joining council in 2015 has been urging Toledo to play a bigger role in youth and education initiatives, puts her hopes on the proposed creation of a new city department.

Ms. Adams said she hopes the proposed Department of Parks, Recreation, Youth Services would be able to "more directly and aggressively articulate and address those areas where we've fallen short in giving a clear direction on the alternatives that are available in our city, both ... vocational and recreational."

"The people who are getting involved in gun violence need to know what the alternatives are to that," Ms. Adams said.

Because of a disagreement about the process, the mayor in March vetoed the formation of the department proposed by Ms. Adams and approved by her colleagues.

Ms. Adams said she plans to introduce a new proposal that would form a Department of Parks and Youth Services with the mayor's blessing. It is going before the council for a vote on May 25, she said Monday.

"We put too much emphasis on gun violence or any type of violence," Ms. Adams said. "... We need to be putting less emphasis on that and more emphasis on 'What are the alternatives?,' 'What can we do better?' and 'What can we put in your hand other than a gun so that you can have a better life?'"

Of the 22 homicides tallied in the Toledo area in 2021, eight arrests have been made, including suspects accused in the separate double homicides of Ahmir and Gabriel Phillips and Brad Keel and David Misch.

First Published May 17, 2021, 5:13pm