Berea teens shot with airsoft guns while riding bikes at park
BEREA, Ohio (WOIO) - Berea police are searching for the person responsible for shooting at least three people with an airsoft gun this week.
“People like this are just very irresponsible and I don’t feel like should be carrying any kind of projectile weapon at all even if it’s not like potentially life-threatening,” said one of the victims, Luky Furth. “It’s really scary to think about.”
On Monday, evening Berea freshmen Luky Furth and Brandon Calo were celebrating their last night of summer riding their bikes through their favorite park, Coe Lake Park, when suddenly things took a turn.
“I was just kind of riding and then like I felt anywhere from three to five hit one of my sides,” recalled Furth.
The teens were shot by an airsoft gun.
“It shows that anyone can get attacked,” said Furth. “It doesn’t have to be planned, it can just come out of nowhere, you can just get shot for no reason.”
They said the shooter was in the back of a black SUV. They believe it was a Jeep Cherokee.
“The shooter was in the back, like the back right behind the passenger... The driver, I’ve seen him, he had like a backwards cap, skinny, white, no facial hair,” said Brandon Calo, the other victim.
The kids immediately reported it to Berea Police.
“I remember biking up and trying to signal to him like come on we gotta go see, but then like we couldn’t catch up and I was just out of breath, and I was like just super shocked by everything that was happening because I mean who expects to be shot by a bb gun while they’re biking,” said Furth.
Police said shortly before the kids were shot, a 22-year-old college student was shot near the CVS on West Bagley Road. Police believe the same people shot all three victims.
“It could potentially kill you if you’re hit in a certain spot,” Furth said. “It’s just something that you don’t wanna see.”
The teen is right. Back in 2001, a 13-year-old was killed in the Collinwood neighborhood when another teen in a car shot him with a bb gun.
“It just goes to show how quickly someone’s life could end,” Furth said.
The kid’s moms say they now constantly worry about their sons.
“I feel worried now, like what’s gonna happen next?” said Jennifer Calo, Brandon’s mom.
“You know when you send your kids out you’re not expecting them to call you and say I just got hit with an airsoft rifle so I don’t like that I usually feel safe here,” said Heather Furth, Luky’s mom. “I never had any kind of issue and now I have to constantly worry when they’re out and about.”
Berea police are currently reviewing surveillance footage from the area to try to identify the people responsible. If you have any information, contact police.
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