The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Police investigating reported shots fired on Easter Sunday
The Lorain County Sheriff’s Office is investigating gunfire April 16 on the 4100 block of Broadway Avenue in Sheffield Township.
According to scanner traffic, officers found five shell casings in the road and were searching for a short Hispanic man who fled the scene traveling north on Broadway.
Clearview School Board President Heidi Adkins said she and her family visited relatives for Easter at the time of the shootings.
One of the bullets hit her house at 4155 Broadway Ave. in Sheffield Township.
“I guess you could say (I’m feeling) a little nervous, a little overwhelmed,” Adkins said. “At the same time, thankful. God definitely watched over us today. I’m glad we weren’t home. We would have been outside on this beautiful day. I’m grateful for our neighbors for watching out for us.”
The Adkins family includes three children, a 19-year-old daughter and two sons ages 11 years and eight years, she said.
The bullet hit the siding on the front of the house, she said.
“From what I have been told, it was two cars shooting back and forth at each other driving by,” Adkins said, adding she did not consider her family to have been a target. “They found casings on the roadway throughout the area.”
The only member of the family who was home was a pet, she said.
“Our poor little five-yearold dog, a toy poodle named Pup-Pup,” Adkins said. “We’ve had him since he was six months old. He was scared. He was at the back door crying. His little heart was racing. He’s only about 5 ½ pounds.”
The Lorain County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.
“They will track down the people who would do something like this,” Adkins said. “We have a lot of kids in this area. Usually they would be outside. We have a good sheriff’s office. I know they’re going to follow through and do their investigating and find these individuals who obviously weren’t thinking. It’s in their hands.
“I can’t thank my neighbors enough,” Adkins said. “They contacted me. I was having Easter with my family. And being here to support us and to comfort us. Your neighbors are just like family members. I would like to thank them for their support.”
Clearview School Board member Michael Kokinda, who lives at 4170 Broadway Ave. in Sheffield Township, said he was working on a computer inside his home at the time of the incident.
“A lot of people heard five shots,” Kokinda said. “Other people said it was a Honda Civic driving South, it did a u-turn and came back up the street. I found four casings on the road. The driver of the pickup truck that witnessed it stopped and told me what he saw. He left then came back a little later.”
He said up to nine sheriff’s cruisers and police vehicles responded to the area.
“My wife just had problems last night with some loose dogs, then this tonight,” Kokinda said. “She’s just not going to walk the dog down the street any more. She likes to take the dog down the street in the evening. Obviously it’s not safe.”