3 arrested in Toledo girls' shootings

Keshawn Jennings, 20, Antwaine Jones, 18, and James Moore, 20, are all charged with third-degree felony obstructing justice in connection with a shooting at Moody Manor that killed a 1-year-old girl and injured a 2-year-old girl. TOLEDO POLICE Enlarge

Toledo police announced late Tuesday evening the arrests of three men in connection with the shootings of two young girls in their home in Moody Manor last week.

Keshawn Jennings, 20, Antwaine Jones, 18, and James Moore, 20, are all charged with third-degree felony obstructing justice, police said.

A Toledo Municipal Court affidavit stated Mr. Jennings, of 244 Wasaon St., gave false information to police during the homicide investigation, with physical evidence contradicting his statements. Court documents related to the other two men’s arrests were not immediately available.

Police officials were unavailable to comment about the charges or whether any or all of the accused are suspects in the actual shootings.

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Mr. Jones had been arrested Friday and charged with criminal trespass for being on Moody Manor property when he had been told “six times” during June and July to stay away because he did not live there. That complaint listed his address as 2037 Terrace View St.

Mr. Jennings and Mr. Moore were among four men who suffered nonlife-threatening wounds in a shooting June 20 in the parking lot at Remy’s Gentleman’s Club on Matzinger Road.

Mr. Moore’s address was listed in documents associated with an unrelated court case as 3145 Cottage Ave.

Months before the shots were fired into the apartment last week, the same apartment was hit by a stray bullet.

Daijha Murphy, 11, Diamond Brown, 12, and Carmanetta Wilson, 12, pray during a prayer vigil for two children who were recently shot in a Moody Manor apartment. Brown lives in the Moody Manor apartments. THE BLADE/LORI KING Enlarge | Buy This Photo

After the May 26 shooting, which police and family said was not aimed at the dwelling but involved a feud between at least two gunmen, the family said they asked management at the Moody Manor apartment complex to move them from that unit.

“They said no,” said Naomi Reed, great-grandmother of Keondra, who died of a single gunshot wound in the head, and Leondra, who was shot in the chest but survived.

Deandre Hooks, 19, the two girls’ father, said Ms. Reed and Quentorria Snowden, 20, mother of Keondra and Leondra, asked management repeatedly to move, but every time, the answer was a firm “no.”

Attempts to reach Moody Manor management on Tuesday were unsuccessful. A woman who answered the phone said management had already left and would not return until Wednesday morning, and she would not contact management except in an emergency.

A call to Msgr. Michael Billian, president of Mareda Inc., which owns Moody Manor LLC, was not returned on Tuesday.

After a prayer vigil late Tuesday afternoon outside the apartment where the girls were shot Thursday night, Mr. Hooks said one bullet from the May incident passed through the front door and lodged in a wall, which was repaired only days before the fatal shooting. “It’s messed up. It’s just so messed up for this to happen,” he said. “We haven’t heard ‘sorry’ or anything from them [Moody Manor management].”

Toledo Councilman Paula Hicks-Hudson, whose district includes Moody Manor, said she had heard recently that the family had asked to be moved after the May shooting.

“It’s unfortunate and terrible that management didn’t move them,” she said. “I don’t know their thought process, but a child is dead. … That’s not right, and I’m really appalled by hearing that.”

Mayor Mike Bell speaks to local youths before the start of a prayer vigil for two children who were recently shot in a Moody Manor apartment in Toledo, Ohio. Tyrell James, 18, lifts his shirt to show the mayor where he was once shot. DeAngelo Gott, 18, leaning against the car, was previously shot 4 times. Enlarge

Mrs. Hicks-Hudson said she has not had any direct complaints from constituents about Moody Manor, but the property has been on her radar for about a year, she said.

It was brought to her attention last year when the Manor Boys, a gang that affiliates itself with the project-based low-income complex, had an open “melee” with the Cherrywood Boys, a gang associated with the Greenbelt Place apartments on Cherry Street.

Mrs. Hicks-Hudson said she intends to meet with Moody Manor management and Toledo police Chief Derrick Diggs to discuss security at Moody Manor, including ensuring the complex’s many security cameras are working and establishing safety as a top priority.

“There are more people that feel trapped and more people afraid than there needs to,” Mrs. Hicks-Hudson said. “I want to schedule a meeting with [Moody Manor] management and find out what specifically are they going to do, what plans do they have, to make sure folks are safe.”

Mario Bernardo, owner of Signal 88, a private security company, said his firm had been hired early last year by Moody Manor’s management company to conduct random patrols there. About 20 minutes before the shootings, reported about 10:50 p.m., a Signal 88 officer drove through the area but is not known to have observed anything unusual, Mr. Bernardo said.

Community members and numerous city leaders at the vigil said they will never forget what happened Thursday.

Toledo Mayor Michael Bell, who attended the vigil after visiting Leondra at the hospital and giving her a teddy bear dressed as a firefighter, told a group of teenaged men surrounding him that law enforcement would be stepped up at Moody Manor.

“You guys are our future,” Mayor Bell told them, while the men lifted their shirts and pant legs to show him healed gunshot wounds.

To dozens of people who gathered to pray and show support for a grieving family, Mayor Bell said, “I just left the hospital … and I was thinking, there should be two of them compared to one.”

The mayor also announced that the city was putting up a $5,000 reward for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the shootings.

Larry Sykes, a Toledo Board of Education member, said during an interview Monday that he would give $2,000 to anyone who provides information by Friday that leads to a conviction. After Friday, he said, that reward will be reduced to $1,000.

As numerous ministers and pastors spoke to the crowd and prayed, police watched from all sides, nearly forming a barricade around the group.

At least four officers from the motorcycle unit were stationed at Moody Manor.

After a vigil on Saturday, a fight broke out and Ms. Snowden was punched in the face and men with guns threatened to start shooting. Police have confirmed that incident but as of Tuesday had not released an official report.

“It was so crazy, they had their guns drawn out,” said Autumn Russell, 19, who lives at the Moody Manor and said she grew up there.

Ms. Russell said growing up at Moody Manor was different from the violence she sees now. Just last month, she was slashed trying to defend herself from someone trying to fight her. The knife wound, which left a scar across her lower back, required 15 staples, she said.

Many residents, some who sat on front porches Monday looking at newspaper classified ads for new housing said they’re eager to get out. “It’s real crazy over here; it’s time to move,” said Darlene Starks, 54. “I live in fear.”

Many want the complex shuttered and razed. “To me, and this is my opinion, you need to close it down,” said Sharmella Harris, 23. “This isn’t happening anywhere else. Tear it down. You close it down and then what? It’s still the Moody Manor. It’s just so bad out here.”

Contact Taylor Dungjen at: tdungjen@theblade.com, 419-724-6054, or on Twitter @tdungjen_Blade.