Teddy bears are starting to accumulate on the front steps, of the west 89th street duplex where six were shot last night. A parent stands on the front lawn.
ARNOLD: …I don’t even have time to really even grieve…
It’s amazing Lamar Arnold is talking at all. Last night, Arnold lost his two daughters, and three of his grandchildren in the shooting. Another grandchild remains in the hospital. He scrolls through the text messages on his phone and finds the note he got from his daughter Lechea last night.
ARNOLD: See this right here? This is the last time I heard from my baby: See say “Call me. Live your life and love it. Last thing I heard from my baby, at what time? 7:47. I kept calling her and never could get back.”
Lechea Crawford was 30 years old, and she was suspect Davon Crawford’s new wife of less than a week. Also among the dead: Lechea’s 25-year old sister Rose Stevens, and three of Stevens’s children: 4 year old Destiny Woods, and twin 2-year-olds Dion and Davion. A seven-year old child remains at MetroHealth hospital with gunshot wounds.
Authorities call it one of the worst shootings in recent Cleveland history.
Mayor Frank Jackson expressed his condolences.
JACKSON: You know, anytime there’s a loss of life, particularly in a senseless way, we all grieve over that. But this one was particularly bad, because they were children.
Davon Crawford reportedly killed himself when police found him in a home on W128th St. Friday afternoon.
The 33-year old had been no stranger to the justice system. He previously served time for killing a man – he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and he served time for domestic violence and child endangering. During the manslaughter trial, according to a report in the Plain Dealer, he told the family of the young man he shot that he was sorry for their loss but that …quote…."I did what I had to do.” Despite the lack of remorse, he got a relatively light sentence and was back on the street in six years. After being released, he got in trouble again. And spent another five years locked up for domestic violence and felonious assault among other offenses. Andrea Carson of the Ohio Dept of Rehabilitation and Correction says he fully complied with the terms of his most recent release from prison.
CARSON: He didn’t have any dirty urine, he was working, he was paying his child support, he had no problems with his supervision, and he received what we call a favorable final release on March the 12th of 2008.
Crawford’s criminal history dates back to his childhood, with juvenile convictions for robbery, theft, and other incidents. And, unfortunately, he appears to be a role model for his own 14-year old child. That boy is accused of assault in a different incident, and he’s scheduled to appear in juvenile court next week.
But despite the clean parole report, some are angry, wondering why someone with such a long and violent criminal history was free from prison at all. That’s how Cleveland Councilman Jay Westbrook feels. His district encompasses the crime scene.
WESTBROOK: Any individual that could look a young child in the face and pull a trigger on them has got to be so deeply disturbed that should never have been loose within society.
Outside the house of the victims, Lamar Arnold, who lost two children and three grandchildren, appears to be more overcome with shock than anger.
ARNOLD: Anger? I don’t even have time for anger, really. I’m worrying about my babies. Worrying about how I’m going to bury my babies…what happened to them. That’s a priority, you know. You can’t live off of anger.
Police are still investigating what set off this rampage and may never know now that Crawford is dead.