CLEVELAND — The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority released new video of Sunday's shooting that injured nine people on West 6th Street. just as city leaders hoped to reassure residents and visitors of Cleveland on Friday.
"Be visible. Don’t give up this city," City Council President Blaine Griffin said. "I'm going to be visible and I’m going to be out, because I want people to see me in the neighborhoods all over the city to show people — to restore confidence — that you will be safe in this city."
The Warehouse District was calm and quiet Friday afternoon, a stark contrast from the bustling scene at around 2 a.m. Sunday. New video from the RTA shows groups of people hanging out and enjoying the bar scene on West 6th that early morning. The footage doesn't have audio, but you can see when the shots are fired. People scatter, and a second angle shows others running down a nearby alley.
Police pull into the frame within seconds — you can see them interacting with people who were caught up in the shooting. Moments later, they help one person — who appears to be injured — lying on a bench.
"Obviously it's a little closer than you'd like it to be," Kristen Tubbs, who has lived in the neighborhood for eight years, told 3News. "There's almost a level of desensitization to just gun violence in general, so it's not that shocking."
Tubbs says hearing about the shooting hasn't changed her behavior.
"Is that the right choice? I don't know," she added, "but I just generally try to be aware."
Others like Rave are frequent visitors to the area. She says she always feels safe, so she was shocked to learn what happened, but added that it could happen anywhere you go.
"Oh yeah, I come out at night a lot," she noted. "I never had issues in the city. I just feel like, watching who you're around, that's the important part of it all."
In contrast, 10-year resident Mike Merritt says he's "still kind of leery," and that the level of violence in the city changed his habits even before Sunday's scene played out.
"I just don't feel safe anymore when it gets dark," he admitted. "I don't go out [any]more."
Merritt is grateful law enforcement arrested a suspect soon after the shooting, but he also wants to see more police presence downtown.
"They need more police. They [are] down 200-something police [officers]. That’s a lot!" he said. "I just want to, you know, feel safe when I come out. Anywhere I go, I want to be safe."
At Barley House, managing partner Corey May says patrons will find an off-duty police officer as well as several guards at the front door.
"If people aren't safe, they're not coming down," May told WKYC's Neil Fischer. "We already run a team of 12 guys in this place, so every nook and cranny of this place, there's somebody watching and observing. So, it's not a matter of needing more security. If anything, we just need more of that police presence on the street."
Michael Deemer is the president of Downtown Cleveland Alliance. He hopes residents and visitors feel safe and reassured heading into the weekend.
"We had a strong law enforcement presence," he contended. "[Those] police moved quickly and were able to make arrests, and I think that sends a strong signal to anybody who might want to do anything to cause trouble in our community that there are going to be consequences. And that should send a reassuring message to anybody who's planning on spending time downtown this weekend."
Griffin also urged people not "to be paralyzed by fear.
"That's what criminals want," he said.