Parents and children scrambled for cover — with some adults even forming a human shield around kids — as gunfire rang out Tuesday night at a busy Davenport Park in Akron.
With young children playing and families watching baseball games, at least two fights broke out among teens near the basketball courts and then seven shots were fired.
Unsure of who was being targeted, people got down on the ground or raced for cover.
No one apparently was injured, but the incident has scarred many parents and children.
The Ellet Baseball and Softball Association also is demanding action from city leaders to improve safety at the popular park, which is along Mogadore Road in the city’s Ellet neighborhood, because this isn’t the first time there’s been a problem there.
Parents are complaining about ongoing drug abuse, drug dealing, alcohol use and vulgar language taking place around young children, with the issues centering around the basketball games. They also said older men often leer at and make rude comments to middle-school-age girls.
The park also has ball fields, tennis courts and playground equipment.
Mayor Dan Horrigan ordered the basketball rims removed and the chain link fence around the courts locked.
“I have heard the concerns of the Ellet community and am aware of the unsettling events at Davenport Park last night,” the mayor said Wednesday in a prepared statement. “I have temporarily shut down the basketball courts to alleviate community concerns while we gather additional feedback from residents.
“The future of the basketball courts at Davenport Park will be a community-driven decision. City parks are community assets that are designed to be enjoyed, accessible, and, above all, safe.”
Someone spray-painted “Closed” in white on the cement in front of the courts.
City spokeswoman Ellen Lander-Nischt said parks maintenance will clean up the graffiti.
Also, Akron police will have a “park and walk” presence at Davenport Park and the Northwest Community Center at least for the next few weeks to make sure park residents feel safe, she said.
It’s not the first time that the city has closed a basketball court. Akron removed the hoops at Firestone Park in 2007 because of fighting. The courts also were closed at Hardesty Park about 20 years ago.
Parents Mary Stephanoff and Josh Merrell are tired of the problems at Davenport Park. Two of their children were playing baseball and other family members were there Tuesday.
They were back at the park Wednesday morning lamenting their experience from the night before.
“It’s a trusting community, you know what I mean?” said Stephanoff, a board member with the Ellet Baseball and Softball Association. “We don’t have these kinds of issues here.”
“Now we do,” Merrell responded.
Stephanoff and Merrell said there apparently was a plan among high school students to meet Tuesday at the park and fight. There were two fights.
“Then, we just heard gunshots, about seven of them,” Stephanoff said. “There were games going on at every field. It was pretty bad. It was pretty terrifying.”
Some kids thought the gunshots were firecrackers.
“We were all screaming at them to get off the fields,” Stephanoff said.
A fuzzy video posted on social media shows two youths fighting in the parking lot and then seven shots are heard. The teens start running when the shots are fired.
Some coaches who are off-duty police officers raced over to where the gunshots were heard. Merrell called them heroes.
“Everybody is getting down to the ground,” he recalled. “You look up and your boys are just standing there. You’re like ‘Get down! Get down!’ They’re still like, ‘What’s going on?’ All the parents ran out there and created a human shield.”
Some children were crying and shaking.
Stephanoff said her 8-year-old son had trouble sleeping.
Stephanoff and Merrell said police questioned people at the scene but they didn’t think anyone was arrested.
Police couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The Ellet Baseball and Softball Association, which is shifting many of its games from the park, plans to attend Monday’s City Council meeting to demand some sort of action. Stephanoff wasn’t sure yet what the city could do, but she and Merrell were pleased that the basketball courts were closed.
Merrell described the ongoing scene at the park as a “festering whatever … It’s always one step away from something happening.”
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ .