CLEVELAND — An arrest warrant has been issued for two Summit County men in connection with last weekend's "street takeover" that happened in Cleveland.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by 3News, Gauge Michael Thomas Franklin of Akron and John Alan Dietrich of Barberton are both wanted by Cleveland police for aggravated arson.
Both suspects were allegedly involved in the street takeover that happened in the area of West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue on Sunday morning at around 2:30 a.m.
In the arrest warrant, Cleveland police allege that Franklin and Dietrich "did knowingly and purposefully participate in pouring a fire accelerant on a city street and igniting it, causing the street to catch fire and cause a substantial risk of serious physical harm to the surrounding crowd."
This was just one of the incidents that happened in Cleveland over the weekend. The chaotic scenes began just after 11 p.m. on Saturday. In one of the most serious incidents, vehicles took over I-90 westbound and "shut the freeway down," stopping traffic.
Cleveland police said the suspects allegedly shot off fireworks on the freeway and attempted to light fires, only to be thwarted by the slick roadway due to the recent rain.
Other takeovers occurred over the weekend on West 65th Street, East 93rd Street and Opportunity Corridor, Steelyard Commons, East 105th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and East 55th Street and Woodland Avenue.
Following the weekend's events, Cleveland City Council responded to the incident saying that they will be holding a hearing on Wednesday morning to seek answers on the situation.
"The safety of our citizens is our top priority, and the City Administration must take proactive measures to ensure events like this do not disrupt our community. We need to ask critical questions and demand answers," said Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin.
