At least four people shot in Toledo over weekend

6/23/2014

At least four people in Toledo were shot this weekend in apparently unrelated incidents.

The latest shooting was reported at 10 p.m. Sunday. Although police were dispatched to the 100 block of West Bancroft Street for a victim, they found a crime scene at 15 W. Bancroft, just outside Toledo fire Station 7.

Steven Smith, 25, of Toledo, was found on Franklin Avenue, near Prescott Street, with at least one gunshot wound; Justin Quinn, 24, of Toledo, was found on the front porch of 128 W. Bancroft. Police said the suspects were uncooperative.

Both victims were taken to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center for treatment; a hospital spokesman today said no patients with those names were at the facility.

At 2:17 a.m. Sunday, LaJuan Pearson, 37, of Toledo, was shot multiple times outside of JT's Bar and Grill, 3325 Stickney Ave. He is now the fourth person to be shot at or outside of JT's this year.

The victim told police two men approached him in the parking lot and demanded, “Run your pockets,” which implies a robbery. The victim said he continued to walk toward the front door of the bar when he heard gunshots and was struck multiple times.

He was taken to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center with nonlife-threatening injuries; a spokesman today said no one by that name was at their facility.

Steven Abernathy, 34, was holding his infant daughter just before 1 a.m. Saturday when he was shot, according to a police report.

The victim told police he had just parked his vehicle in a driveway at 354 E. Manhattan Blvd. and had just taken his daughter out of the car when a person approached, pointed a gun at him, and said, “Give it up,” a police report states.

The victim said he was backing away when a single shot was fired, striking the victim in his left leg and causing him to drop his daughter into the street, police said.

Both Mr. Abernathy and his daughter were taken to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center to be treated for nonlife threatening injuries. Today, a hospital spokesman said Mr. Abernathy was still at the hospital; his condition was not available.

No arrests have been made in any of the cases. Police ask that anyone with information call Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111.