Indiana Ave. residents: Gunfire quite common

The gunfire on Indiana Avenue is white noise to some of the people who live on that central-city street.

Seeing plywood ripped from the windows of vacant homes, evidence that copper plumbing inside has been stripped by scavengers, is routine.

"There's trash, overgrown fields, broken glass. There's guns -- you hear gunshots and think nothing of it because it becomes normal," said Stewart Smith, 32, who has lived on Indiana for seven years.

Mr. Smith lives, with his wife and two young children, two houses away from Annie Huddleston, a 92-year-old woman he said he doesn't know well.

Until Friday afternoon, he hadn't heard that Ms. Huddleston had shot a Toledo police lieutenant she mistook for a burglar on Thursday morning.

Ms. Huddleston called 911 about 12:30 a.m., reporting she thought someone was trying to break into her house.

Lt. Randy Pepitone was nearby and responded to the call but found no one outside and no signs of forced entry. When he and dispatchers tried to reach Ms. Huddleston, she did not respond.

Fearing someone might be in the house with the woman, the lieutenant started to force entry when she fired a single shot, grazing the officer in the head. The superficial wound was treated by paramedics already on the scene and then at Toledo Hospital. Lieutenant Pepitone is expected to be back at work on Sunday.

A search of Blade archives shows that Ms. Huddleston's home has been broken into at least once. In 2006, a gun belonging to her late husband was taken from the residence.

On Thursday, when a Blade reporter went to Ms. Huddleston's home for an arranged interview, she called 911 to say someone claiming to be from the newspaper was at her door, Sgt. Joe Heffernan said.

The Toledo Police Department's records office did not respond to a request for police reports of crime on Indiana.

The crime log compiled by The Blade based on daily reports provided by the department shows that, several break-ins, robberies, and at least one shooting have occurred on Indiana this year.

Mr. Smith -- whose house has been broken into before -- said he doesn't blame Ms. Huddleston for having a gun, especially living where they do.

"That's how it is," he said. "These young kids, I'm scared of them. They have no respect."

Allonia West's view of Indiana Avenue provides a contrast. 'I haven't had any problems and I've lived here a long time,' she says. THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH Enlarge | Buy This Photo

Others along Indiana Avenue feel differently.

"I haven't had any problems and I've lived here a long time," said Allonia West, 80.

Another woman who lives on Indiana near North Detroit Avenue said her block of Indiana is quiet because most of her neighbors are "older." Nonetheless, crossing east over Detroit Avenue "is like going into another world."

"Our problem is the gangs," Patty Watkins, 51, said.

She, like others, was surprised to hear about the shooting, but can understand why Ms. Huddleston was scared.

"That old lady did think it was an intruder," she said. "They got these people wearing police shirts and breaking into homes and robbing them. You don't know who's real. This world is corrupted."

Police confiscated Ms. Huddleston's .357 Magnum revolver and, as of Friday, it was still locked up in the department's property room.

It's unknown if the gun will be returned to Ms. Huddleston, Sergeant Heffernan said.

Linda Walker, the central Ohio chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Association, said Ms. Huddleston has the law on her side in this situation, and the police are legally required to return her firearm if they do not intend to charge her with a crime.

"In the U.S., you can't confiscate someone's legally owned firearm without having, first and foremost, been arrested and then convicted of something," Ms. Walker said.

Because Ms. Huddleston did not recognize a police officer at her door, and thought she was firing at a burglar, Ms. Walker said police need to return the gun.

"As long as she doesn't have a felony background, then she's a law-abiding citizen, and they've got to return her firearm to her if she wants it," Ms. Walker said.

Toby Hoover, director of the Toledo-based Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, disagrees.

"I'm glad they took it away," Ms. Hoover said. "She's either going to hurt herself or hurt someone else."

Ms. Hoover said the police should not return Ms. Huddleston's gun to her regardless of whether her fears are founded.

"We have to get past this point where everyone is capable, and everyone ought to have a gun in their hands because they're afraid of something," she said. "I don't think you can argue about people's fears because people are afraid, but I think it gets perpetuated. It is this whole false sense of security that they can defend themselves with a gun."

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