Toledo police investigate 3 shootings Wednesday

3/7/2012

Toledo police late Wednesday were investigating three shootings in two separate incidents within 3 1/2 hours.The first shooting, about 5 p.m., prompted Martin Luther King Academy officials to place the school on lockdown for about 15 minutes after gunshots were heard, Patty Mazur, Toledo Public Schools spokesman, said.

There were about 50 children inside the school at the time, she said.

The two men were shot — one in the thigh and one in the buttocks — in a drive-by near Forest and Palmwood avenues in the central city, said police Sgt. William Wauford.

The men, identified as Deangelo Parker, 23, and Brandon Clark, 27, were taken to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center. A hospital spokesman said there was no information about patients by that name. Sergeant Wauford said their injuries were not believed to be life threatening.

The men were reportedly walking along Forest when a person inside a passing white Cadillac opened fire.

At about 5:30 p.m. Tamika Saunders, who was picking up her sons, ages 5 and 7, from the schools, said “It’s scary, very scary” knowing that two people were shot outside her sons’ school.

She said she doesn’t fear for her boys’ safety while they’re on their way to or from school — and not while they’re there — but turning the corner and seeing police cars, without knowing what’s going on, makes her uneasy.

The second incident occurred about 8:15 p.m. when Thomas Barker, 40, was shot multiple times as he stood, groceries in hand, at the door of an apartment complex in the 800 block of Byrneport Drive, Sergeant Wauford said.

He was taken to University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio. A hospital spokesman had no information about a patient by that name.

Sergeant Wauford said the man was stable and talking at the hospital. Police had no description late Wednesday of a suspect, but hoped witnesses would come forward.

The motive in both incidents was unknown.