TOLEDO, Ohio — The family of 16-year-old Joshua Sorrell has been fighting for over six years to see the north Toledo building he fell to his death in torn down.
The demolition of the vacant Rosemary Apartments on North Detroit and Phillips avenues has been "a long time coming," Kerri Sorrell, Joshua's mother, said after the first swing of the wrecking ball hit the structure.
Kerri said a ghost story lured her son and his friends into the unsecured building in June 2016.
Now, the giant tombstone symbolizing the loss of the former Whitmer High School soccer player and dedicated blood donor will be reduced to a pile of rubble after the Lucas County Land Bank received a $9.8 million state grant to reduce blight in Toledo.
"It's a great load off my shoulders and everyone else's," Kerri said. "Finally, the war is over."
Lucas County Treasurer Lindsay Webb said it was challenging to get the building leveled because it was privately owned.
But, the goal was eventually achieved and the demolition began Friday morning, which Webb said should serve as a warning to "folks evading their responsibility both to the community and as property owners in our community."
"This should be a warning if you own property that is a nuisance, that is a problem, the city of Toledo is paying attention and eventually you're going to have to pay the piper," she said.
The project, which the Land Bank has contracted Lucas County-based Klumm Bros for, is expected to take several months.
The demolition will remove a source of pain for the Sorrell family and hopefully prevent any other injuries at the site, Kerri said.
"No more chances of somebody getting injured and, God forbid, a death trap for somebody else," Sorrell said.
Once the building comes down, city leaders say it'll become a green space.
"The grief and sorrow will never end, but to know this is out of the picture and it'll be a beautiful place, we'll have a ray of hope for Joshua," Kerri said.