Cleveland police investigate reports of pellet gun shooting spree in the near west side

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - For the better part of an hour early Monday night, Cleveland police dispatchers were tied up with multiple calls for shootings, all describing some form of pellet or plastic-like bullets being sprayed their direction.

“They drove by in a minivan and shot me in the face from like four feet away,” an alleged victim told 19 News.

Another, a local postal carrier, told a resident along her route that she too had been shot.

That resident shared his doorbell camera footage with 19 News.

“They welted up my face,” the letter carrier said. “They shot me up.”

She described the gun as a popular toy marketed by a variety of companies that shoots small water beads.

A 19 News crew was also shot at while working on an unrelated story Monday afternoon.

The incident was caught on camera, but did not show the shooter. The footage does show our crew, along with two residents being shot at.

19 News was able to capture the vehicle and license plate on camera, which matched the description of the vehicle allegedly used in the other shootings.

No injuries were reported, but Cleveland police have assigned a detective to investigate.

Officers said the incident(s) could lead to assault charges.

A similar incident was blamed in the beating death of 17-year-old Ethan Liming outside Lebron James’ I Promise School in Akron last summer.

Akron Police Chief Stephen Mylett said the altercation began after Liming and three others arrived to the parking lot and started firing a SplatRBall gun at people on the basketball court. It is not clear if Liming fired the SplatRBall gun.

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