CLEVELAND, Ohio – More than three dozen bullets flew through the air during a Saturday night shootout at Edgewater Park that left an 18-year-old man shot in the back and sent parkgoers diving for cover.
Gunmen fired shots from park’s Beach House down at a nearby parking and at least two people, including one with an AR-15, fired shots from the lot below, according to Cleveland Metroparks police reports and surveillance videos released late Thursday.
The reports and videos of the shooting showed a chaotic scene as gunshots flew around Cleveland’s most popular lakeside park on the first day of summer and shortly before the July 4 holiday, when the park draws thousands.
Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to Metroparks police for their safety plans as the Fourth of July holiday rolls around next week.
Officials said that 16 people carried guns during the shootout. Police said some of the shooters wore ski masks on the 95-degree day.
No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting. A 17-year-old boy was arrested and charged in connection with possessing a gun stolen in February from a Cleveland home. He has denied the charges in Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court.
Although Edgewater Park is managed by Cleveland Metroparks, Tyler Sinclair, a spokesman from the city of Cleveland, said the city is encouraged to learn of the heightened police presence they will provide in the area.
“But unfortunately, law enforcement presence is not a fail-safe,” Sinclair stated in an email. “We have a serious problem in today’s society where individuals think the best way to resolve conflict is through guns. Violence is never the solution and those who resort to it need to think about the consequences their actions will have on families and friends of both those around them as well as their own.”
Police collected 38 shell casings around the Beach House Saturday, found a stolen gun tossed in the parking lot and detained several people amid the chaos.
The shootout started about 9 p.m. Surveillance videos showed hundreds of people at the park. In the Beach House, dozens gathered and appeared to be looking down at the parking lot.
A witness told police she saw a man with an AR-15, and an individual with a handgun fire shots from a Hyundai Elantra. The woman told police there were four men and a woman inside the vehicle, a police report stated.
One person in the Beach House pulled a gun from his waistband fired two gunshots before running away, the video showed.
When the shots were fired , parkgoers sprinted for cover. Some left shoes and other valuables behind as they attempted to escape gunfire.
Bullets hit two cars in the parking lot, according to police reports.
After the shootout, Metroparks police swarmed the area, some with guns drawn or tasers pointed, as families and others walked or ran to their cars to leave. Police quickly arrested a 17-year-old boy with a gun and took him to the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center.
As people scattered, a 17-year-old girl who informed police she was searching for her sister struck an officer before he threw her to the ground, according to the police reports and videos. The girl was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct, failure to comply with order or signal of a police officer, and misconduct.
She was transported to Lutheran Hospital for alcohol intoxication and stomach issues.
Police also tackled a 17-year-old boy who refused to leave the park, police reports say. The teen was released to his mother’s custody.
Officers also detained a 25-year-old man carrying a handgun at the scene, but later released him. While sitting in the cruiser, a police camera recorded him saying that his gun had a Glock switch, a device used that makes a semi-automatic weapon fire like an automatic gun.
The man said on the recording that he didn’t shoot, but had been ready to open fire, police reports say.