SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — After a homicide Sunday night, some Springfield Township residents say they are concerned about increasing crime in their neighborhood.
27-year-old Gerald Dennis Mayes II was found shot in a running car at the intersection of Perrysburg Holland and Holland Sylvania Roads around 8 p.m. Sunday, shocking residents of a nearby apartment complex.
Investigators said there were no witnesses to the shooting, but a passerby noticed the vehicle riddled with bullet holes and called 911.
Emergency responders found Mayes and rushed him to the hospital where he died.
Residents of the apartment complex, also on Holland Sylvania Road, said they didn't know Mayes and are alarmed at increased crime in the area.
One resident said that for the sake of her young children, she feels it's time to move out.
"We're moving in the next six months," said Lindsay Salvagni, a mother of two, who says the incident only confirms her family's decision to move to Cleveland.
"We've been stuck here for four years now- and hopefully we can get the hell out of the Toledo area. I feel like the Toledo violence slowly pushes it's way further and further," Salvagni said.
Another neighbor, Sean Smith, said crime in the area of Airport Highway and Holland Sylvania Road is worsening. A lifelong Toledo resident, Smith said this is the worst crime he's seen.
"Over the years it's been scaling up, more and more it seems. Each year more and more violence going on in the city," Smith said.
While both residents said crime is becoming part of the fabric of the neighborhood. While kids might play outside by day, Salvagni said the atmosphere is different at night.
"Neighbors in the area...getting in arguments with each other," she said. "Definitely the noticeable drug deal here and there. When you're driving down the road it's very obvious."
Both said the neighborhood must change.
"I think we need to be checked out more around here and get a better grip on crime," Smith said.
While Salvagni wasn't quite comfortable with the idea of more police in the neighborhood, she feels residents are out of options.
"I don't want to say a police presence because I feel like that makes more of an issue, but at the same time when these things happen I feel like nothing's done about it," Salvagni said.
The Lucas County Sheriff's Office's investigation into Mayes' death continues.