Police are investigating after a series of shootings left at least six people wounded during high school reunion events in East Cleveland, Ohio.
The East Cleveland Police department said the three shootings happened within two hours near Shaw High School early Monday.
“This is where I come from. I love my city. And this shouldn’t happen,” said Michael Tucker, a 1984 Shaw High School graduate and the current vice president of the Shaw Alumni Association.
Tucker and other volunteers were spending Monday afternoon picking up litter along Euclid Avenue from overnight. The mess of broken bottles, discarded food and empty cans was left in the wake of a violent evening.
“I said, ‘Man I’ve got to get down there.’ I just felt compelled to come down here and help any way that I could,” said David Webb, who lives in East Cleveland and is in the process of starting a nonprofit to clean up the city's blighted properties.
Shortly after 1 a.m. Monday, East Cleveland officers responded to Euclid Ave and Collamer Street for a man with reported gunshot wounds. They found the man and a woman who had also been shot in the area.
An hour later, officers near Euclid and Shaw Avenues heard an excessive amount of gunfire coming from the Mobil gas station. At least three people were found with gunshot wounds.
Around 2:30 a.m., officers responded several blocks away to Elwood Road. They found another man with gunshot wounds.
All victims were taken to University Hospitals for treatment. East Cleveland Police said the victims' conditions were unknown Monday afternoon, and investigators are searching for suspects.
“It’s terrible. It’s sad,” said Webb.
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The shootings happened hours after official events concluded in the annual Shaw High School all-class reunion.
"Our event ends at 6 p.m. Sunday after the park. So what happens after on Euclid Avenue, the association doesn't have anything to do with that," Tucker said.
He was celebrating his class's 40th reunion over the weekend. The Alumni Association helped plan the events for any classes, including fundraisers for a scholarship and to help send the Shaw High School band to Hawaii for the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade.
“In no way [is] what happened attached to what we do. We love this city. It’s all about the kids. It’s about the children at Shaw High School,” Tucker said.
East Cleveland City Council President Twon Billings said the Shaw High School Reunion is a weekend-long event that brings together graduates and community members of all ages. He was devastated that what was supposed to be a happy event turned violent. Billings believes the police shortage affected the events that transpired Monday morning.
"You have to have a presence out here,” said Billings. “When you got thousands of people traveling through the city and there's no enforcement here. We only got a few officers. We had to rely on mutual aid, which you see Cleveland Heights, University Heights and various of different ambulances and fire departments. It’s a tragic shame all the people that were shot. Hopefully, the God that, you know, these people make it."
Billings went on to say East Cleveland leaders need to make combating gun violence a priority to see change in the community.
“We already having problems with our budget,” Billings added. “We have problems with trying to locate, police officers to come and work for us. We have already concerns not less to be having this type of, you know, activity."
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In 2022, Scripps News Clevelans reported on another shooting in East Cleveland on Labor Day outside a bar following the Shaw High School reunion.
East Cleveland police said one person was killed and at least 10 were injured in the 2022 shooting.
Alumni believe outsiders are ruining a positive reunion weekend.
“We’re not the ones out here fighting and shooting. These are people coming from other areas,” said one volunteer cleaning up Monday.
Tucker added, “We have a lot of outsiders that come just to party. And unfortunately we don’t have any control over that.”
He hopes the community, including local business owners, will take a stand against the violence.
“There should be more of us out here doing this - cleaning up,” he said.
Police are urging anyone with information to contact the East Cleveland Detective Bureau at (216) 681-2162 or Crime Stoppers at (216) 252-7463. Anyone with information leading to an arrest and/or conviction of the person responsible may be eligible for up to a $5,000 reward.
This story was originally published by Catherine Ross and Bryn Caswell at Scripps News Cleveland.
