CLEVELAND — Cleveland city officials, including Mayor Justin Bibb and Police Chief Wayne Drummond, announced on Tuesday afternoon that an arrest has been made in connection with the mass shooting that injured nine people on Sunday morning.
Members of the U.S. Marshals took 25-year-old Jaylon Jennings into custody at approximately 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon at a location in the 2900 block of Toledo Avenue in Lorain. Jennings was arrested without incident.
According to the arrest warrant, Jennings is accused of "purposely attempting to cause the death of nine individuals by intentionally retrieving a firearm," which was described by witnesses as a Glock. As of Wednesday afternoon, court records show that Jennings has been charged with one count of attempted murder, a first-degree felony.
The news conference took place at the site of the shooting on West 6th Street near Johnson Court in downtown Cleveland.
"We got this suspect in 61 hours," Bibb said at the briefing. "It shows you what can happen when every level of law enforcement is working together."
You can watch Tuesday's entire briefing below:
The nine victims are described as follows:
- 23-year-old man; shot in forearm
- 29-year-old man; shot in leg
- 26-year-old man; shot in wrist and lower body
- 24-year-old woman; shot in both feet
- 38-year-old man; shot in leg
- 23-year-old woman; shot in knee
- 27-year-old man; shot in both legs
- 26-year-old man; shot in leg
- 24-year-old man; shot in knee
According to Drummond, two victims were treated and released from MetroHealth Medical Center. The remaining seven are being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
"They'll all be okay," he stated on Tuesday.
As investigators probed the shooting, a $50,000 reward was made available for information leading to the arrest of the suspect. The reward money was put up by Bobby George, who owns Ethos Capital Partners and multiple restaurants in the Greater Cleveland area, including one on West 6th Street near where the shooting took place. Bibb complemented George for his "amazing donation" during the briefing.
George said a tipster reached out "right away" after the reward was announced on Monday. "I look at things from a businessman's perspective," he told our Lydia Esparra during Tuesday's briefing. "If you show someone the incentive, I'll show you the outcome."
On Monday, Drummond told 3News' Russ Mitchell that while there was no one (yet) in custody for the shooting, investigators were tracking down "good leads" while utilizing surveillance camera footage and tips from Crime Stoppers. When it comes to Jennings, 3News searched court records and discovered the suspect had been out on a $5,000 bond at the time of the shooting for an unrelated December 2022 arrest in Lorain County. He is currently awaiting trial on charges of trafficking and possessing marijuana, and previously received probation and a suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to other drug charges. He also has a long list of cases in Lorain Municipal Court, and has a smattering of cases in Elyria Municipal Court. The earliest case 3News found among court records was from May of 2017 in Lorain Municipal Court for a seat belt violation.
The mass shooting comes amid what has been a violent year so far in Cleveland. So far, there have been 70 homicides in the city, compared to 63 at the same time a year ago. Despite the uptick, Bibb believes that his policies are not failing. "We have a gun problem and solving violent crime is a complex, nuanced issue. We are doing everything we can at City Hall and will continue to do everything we can to get violent criminals off our streets. But we have more work to do and everyone in our community must step up," he told Mitchell.
Watch Russ Mitchell's full interview with Bibb and Drummond in the player below:
With the mass shooting once again highlighting Cleveland's problems with hiring and keeping police officers, Bibb and Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Det. Jeff Follmer have agreed to meet for what is being called the city's first "Public Safety Summit."
Both sides, along with Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 8 President Capt. Jim O'Malley, will begin meeting face-to-face this Wednesday in preparation for the actual summit on Aug. 23. Officials say the gathering will center around "Police Officer Retention, Recruitment, and Deployment."