TOLEDO, Ohio — A 32-year-old man was shot outside Crox Bar and Grill in south Toledo Saturday, leaving him in critical condition.
The gunshots from that night were heard around the area, including by 63-year-old Pam Harper on Shepler Street.
Harper, who's lived in the same house since she bought it from her grandmother in 1999, said the shooting is one more sign that the once-tight-knit community has become a playground for criminals.
She said her street in particular is a perfect example of the decay. From the road, Shepler Street could be mistaken for no residents living there. Blighted houses on the corner of the street greet anyone who drives by.
Harper is part of a small contingent of people still trying to hold on to the block.
"I shovel my own snow, I cut my own grass, I do all that, I cut half of these lots on both sides of me, so I can keep stuff up," she said.
But, Harper claimed there's another group that comes into the neighborhood at night and can be heard inside the abandoned properties.
"I hear this music, 'bum boom bum boom,'" she said. "I said, 'who's playing this music?' They threw a 'molly-cocktail' and burned that house up," she said.
Harper claimed if it's not Molotov cocktails, it's gunshots. She's added security cameras to her home and reported every incident to police and complained to her Toledo Councilwoman Theresa Gadus, who represents District 3, but said it seems to be falling on deaf ears.
"You call and you make complaints and I have their ... cell numbers, and you don't see them, then you want us to vote? What am I voting for?" she said.
She said the violence is pushing her to her limit, but she doesn't want to give up her house.
"Why should I move? I paid for this," she said. "Why would I go pay rent somewhere for $900 dollars a month when I just have to pay for taxes and utilities here?"
She's beginning to feel like she's fighting a losing battle, and is even considering a retirement community to find the same kind of peace that she used to feel.
"My grandmother would be rolling over in her grave," Harper said.
Harper made requests of the city of Toledo for how to improve the area, those being clearing the blighted houses on the street and increasing police patrols.
WTOL 11 reached out to Gadus and city representatives for comment on Harper's concerns but have not received a response.