2 men fatally shoot into vigil with automatic weapons, Akron police say

AKRON, Ohio (WOIO) - Akron police are still on the hunt for two men who shot up a vigil in the North Hill neighborhood last Wednesday.

Neighbors said about 40 people gathered at a lot on Wall Street in Akron to pay tribute to two people, a 23-year-old man killed in Cuyahoga Falls in late May and a 31-year-old man who was murdered during a home invasion in December of 2020. His home is now a vacant lot on Wall Street. Police say it was set on fire the day after the murder. It was also the location where the vigil was held.

Witnesses told 19 News the group of people was gathered peacefully holding a vigil when suddenly two men with black masks and blue surgical gloves armed with automatic weapons came through the back of the lot and opened fire.

“My brother got shot please hurry up! Please!” a panicked woman yelled in a 911 call.

“Forty-five shots no one was hit that I know of nobody in my house but there’s bullet holes all through my house,” another caller said.

Unfortunately, that caller was wrong, those bullets did kill someone, 30-year-old Christopher Johnson, who also lived on Wall Street. 19 News spoke with his neighbor, who wanted to remain anonymous.

“Christopher, we’ve lived up the street from each other for years,” they said. “He was really nice. I mean he talked to me and my brother when we’d go for walks or go to the corner store. We would talk about marvel movies and I mean he was sweet.”

This woman who witnessed the shooting says she saw the two men pull up in a black SUV a block over on Howard street.

“They backed into the driveway, got out and they spoke to someone over there, went back to their car, came back with the guns, and came running through the field, and when they got to the corner of my fence, they were looking over that way and just started shooting before I could even get my back door shut and get in my house,” the neighbor recalled.

The shooting happened Wednesday in broad daylight.

Witnesses said the two men had what looked like automatic weapons.

Police said someone at the vigil returned fire.

Two others were also shot, but both are expected to be OK.

The neighbor we spoke to says she was worried she wouldn’t survive and now she’s moving out of the North Hill neighborhood.

“We’re kind of used to the shots but being that close to it you know, bullets don’t have a name so that could’ve been anybody,” she said.

Akron police do not have any suspects they have not arrested anyone. They are looking for two shooters, both men in a black GMC SUV with tinted windows.

Call the Akron Police Department Detective Bureau at 330-375-2490 or 330-375-2Tip if you have any information on this case.

You can also call the Summit County Crimestoppers at 330-434-COPS or text TIPSCO with your tips to 274637.

Callers can stay anonymous.

Reference case #22-66859 with your tips.

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