CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Dozens of gunshots sent people running for their lives in the Flats after Sunday’s Browns game.
Six people were shot including one suspected gunmen, the police continue to search for the three other shooters.
“That message has to be sent loud and clear. You can’t tolerate this stuff in the city of Cleveland,” said Councilman Mike Polensek of Ward 8 in Cleveland.
He says part of the problem is troublemakers, often young people, who head downtown not to patronize businesses but rather to just hang out.
That’s when he says issues arise and they solve problems with guns.
“None of us can understand that mindset, but we’ve seen it far too often in our city and beyond and it’s absolutely uncalled for. It’s disgusting. It’s debilitating. It has an adverse effect upon our neighborhoods and upon our city in general and we just want these individuals off the street. I don’t care what we’ve got to do to identify them. We want them off the street and we want them prosecuted. There’s no place for this,“ said Polensek.
Play Bar and Grill remains closed after the city blamed them for issues around the shooting and boarded them up.
They and other businesses in the Flats say there was no visible police presence Sunday afternoon.
“We’ve always requested to have more police presence down here in this area it’s one of the hottest places in the city right now,” said Play Bar and Grill owner David Hill.
Cleveland Police say they’re working to reevaluate plans for future gamedays including where it’s best to locate officers.
As for Play Bar and Grill, they say they’re being unfairly targeted, that they had nothing to do with the shooting.
“We have a lot of people that come down and they support us and they really love it and enjoy it here. So for us to be blamed for something like this is really, it’s unheard of. It’s embarrassing,” said Hill.
Polensek says there needs to be more police on the streets, but until the officer deficit is solved the city needs to come up with a solution.
He says the city needs to meet with Flats business owners to work towards a solution.
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