Toledo man, 30, becomes city’s 3rd homicide in week

Sandy Davis lives in Westland Gardens Apartments, where Antonio Watson, 30, of Rockingham Street was found shot at 6:40 a.m. He was later pronounced dead.

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Sandy Davis lives in Westland Gardens Apartments, where Antonio Watson, 30, of Rockingham Street was found shot at 6:40 a.m. He was later pronounced dead.

The man shot to death Wednesday in South Toledo — the city’s third homicide in less than a week — was a rap artist and a father, those who knew him said.

Sandy Davis, a neighbor, said Antonio Watson was a good neighbor of about six years who leaves “two little daughters and a beautiful fiancee.” He made CDs featuring his own music and was “good with it,” she said.

“I never had a problem with him,” Ms. Davis said. “He always had a smile on his face. He would always hold the door or help me carry anything I had, like groceries or clothes.”

RELATED: 2013 Toledo Homicide Report

Ms. Davis said she was home when she heard three shots about 6:35 a.m. and called police. She then stepped out into the hallway and saw the victim lying on the floor, she said. Her own son was killed several years ago, she said.

Watson

Mr. Watson, 30, was found shot — apparently in his head — at the Westland Gardens Apartments, 1640 Fielding Ave., off Dorr Street, according to Toledo police. No one has been arrested.

Once on the scene, police found a door to the apartment building locked and were forced to break a window to get inside. They found the victim on the floor in the hallway. He was taken to the University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio, where he was pronounced dead.

Maurita McCoy, 26, said another neighbor woke her up and told her someone had just been shot. “I’m scared for my life,” Ms. McCoy said. “This is the second time that someone is shot here. We need security cameras.”

On Aug. 28, 2011, Quidare Buffaloe, 23, of Toledo was fatally shot in a parking lot at Westland Gardens Apartments.

Buffaloe was with a group of people who were standing around and talking in a parking lot about 10:15 p.m. when someone started shooting, hitting him and two bystanders, according to police. No charges have been filed.

The death Wednesday is the third homicide in Toledo in less than a week and the sixth in the metro area this year, including one that happened at the Toledo Correctional Institution.

On March 21, Christopher Ogden, 40, of Toledo was fatally stabbed at an East Toledo home. John Garcia, 33, who police believe is responsible, surrendered to the U.S. Marshals’ Violent Fugitive Task Force on Wednesday.

Three days later, Kaitlin Gerber, 20, also of Toledo, was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend, Jashua Perz, 30, who later shot and killed himself, according to police.

Contact Mike Sigov at: sigov@theblade.com, 419-724-6089, or on Twitter @mikesigovblade.