CRIME
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Three people who were shot and killed in Akron in recent unrelated incidents have been identified as Eddie Johnson III, Zion Neal and Anthony Smith.
www.beaconjournal.com
Three recent Akron shooting victims, including a 19-year-old, have been identified
Three people who have been shot and killed in Akron in unrelated incidents this month have been identified, according to the
Summit County Medical Examiner's Office.
They are Eddie Johnson III, 42, of Akron, who was found dead in a home in Akron's Kenmore neighborhood on Dec. 18; Zion Neal, 19, of Akron who was shot at the Akron Skate Park and dropped off at a Barberton hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Dec. 12; and Anthony Smith, 23, of Akron, who was found dead in a vehicle in West Akron on Dec. 11.
Eddie Johnson III
A man found shot to death on Dec. 18 in the 2300 block of
29th Street SW in Kenmore has been identified as Eddie Johnson III, 42, of Akron. His cause of death was ruled a homicide from multiple gunshot wounds.
The person who called police said the man was his godbrother. The caller said he was checking on him at the request of the caller’s mother and godmother after the man hadn’t been seen in a few days.
The caller, who said the man’s door appeared to be forced open, found the man, who was lying on the floor dead, and called police. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
A man who was shot at the
Akron Skate Park in Ellet and taken by private vehicle to Summa Barberton Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, on Dec. 12 has been identified as Zion Neal, 19, of Akron.
The medical examiner's office said Neal was at the skate park at 990 Derby Downs Drive, near the Akron Fulton Airport, when he was shot multiple times.
According to detectives, Neal was with a group of people at the skate park. The vehicle that dropped him off at the hospital left before officers could intervene, according to police.
According to his family, Neal was his senior year in high school, sang in a choir and had recently started working at Amazon. He had just turned 19.
"He helped everybody. He just helped everybody, all of us, everybody, like his own family. He loved his nieces. He took care of his older brothers and sisters like they were his kids," his mother, Marisa Williams, said in an interview with the Beacon Journal.
A cousin, La-Angel Williams, said they have questions about Neal's death, including how the shooting happened and why Neal was not taken to a closer hospital.
Zion Neal:Family reflects on 19-year-old shot at Akron Skate Park in Ellet: 'We don't even know why'
"He was a great kid, didn't bother anybody, had a bright future. He had a job, he was young, working at Amazon and was looking forward to life like all of us," she said. "He wasn't a hood kid, didn't hang out on the street or anything like that, so we don't understand why ... it was senseless, we don't even know why."
She called on whoever shot her cousin to turn themselves in.
"Make it right. Make it right for his mother. Make it right for yourself. Make it right to whoever you pray to," she said. "It's going to come to light regardless, whether it's through your heart, your conscience, one way or another it's going to come to light."
His sister, Oahnesty Palmer, described her brother as a loving, caring young man.
"My brother was an uncle. He's got a lot of nieces. He loved every single one of them," she said. "He was a singer. He loved music. He was super goofy. Everything about him, he was just laughing, dancing, making funny faces, funny dance movements — everybody loved him, everybody. Definitely his teachers, his classmates, every friend he ever made loved him. My brother was that person."
Crime Stoppers has offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of Neal's killer.
Akron Skate Park shooting:19-year-old shot and killed at Akron Skate Park
Anthony Smith
A man who was found dead of a gunshot wound to the upper body in a vehicle parked on the street in the 400 block of
Noble Avenue in West Akron on Dec. 11 has been identified as Anthony Smith, 23, of Akron.
A 911 caller who said she was the man's sister told the operator that "we’ve been looking for him all day. He’s in a car. He’s dead. He’s dead."
Police said that an unknown suspect fired multiple shots into the vehicle, striking the victim, before fleeing the scene.
West Akron shooting:Man, 23, found dead of gunshot wound in vehicle in West Akron, police report
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