A grandfather, his son, and his grandson are now facing attempted murder charges after a dispute over washing a car with a neighbor's water hose exploded into gunfire on Cleveland's West Side, wounding a woman and a man and sending bullets tearing through at least one house where two toddlers were present. Venancio Camargo Sr., 75, Venancio Camargo Jr., 46, and Daniel King-Camargo, 21, were indicted on charges including attempted murder, felonious assault, illegally firing a gun and vandalism following the July 25 shooting on the 1900 block of West 45th Street.
According to the Cleveland Division of Police, the confrontation began when a 24-year-old man detailing a car for a 28-year-old customer at a friend's house was aggressively confronted and told to leave. As reported by Cleveland.com, Venancio Camargo Sr. accused people of using his water to wash the car and told the victim to move it, then went inside his house and got his son and grandson. Camargo Sr. is accused of flashing a gun of his own during the confrontation, per the outlet's account of the indictment.
From there, the situation escalated quickly. The outlet reports that Daniel King-Camargo emerged with a handgun and Venancio Camargo Jr. came out with an AK-47-style rifle, while the victim retreated behind a truck, raised his hands and said he did not have a gun anymore. Investigators say the man never pointed or fired a weapon at anyone during the encounter.
Bullets Tore Through Homes, Struck Bystanders
The gunfire that followed didn't stay contained to the confrontation itself. A bullet went through a window and smashed a plate inside a kitchen, another punctured a refrigerator and lodged in an upstairs-unit wall, and one round went through several walls in a house, according to Cleveland.com's reporting on the indictment, which lists nine victims total, including two toddlers.
Two bystanders were badly hurt. Gunfire struck a woman in the thigh and a man in the calf; the man was reportedly a bystander trying to get his children into the basement when he was hit. Both the woman and man were taken to MetroHealth in critical condition, per the outlet's account. Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd called the shooting a “senseless act of violence” that deeply impacted the victims, their families and the surrounding neighborhood, according to a statement from the Cleveland Division of Police.
Two Arrests the Night Of, a SWAT Raid Days Later
Cleveland police dispatched to the 1900 block of West 45th Street that night after a report of shots fired found Venancio Camargo Jr. near a nearby residence, where he dropped a handgun as officers approached, according to WKYC. Officers recovered a .45 caliber handgun from him at the scene that night, while police recovered just one weapon total during the initial response.
It took five more days for the other two suspects to be taken into custody. On July 30, Cleveland police SWAT and Second District detectives executed search warrants, arresting Venancio Camargo Sr. at a nearby residence and recovering multiple firearms and ammunition, while Daniel King-Camargo surrendered to officers at the scene. The indictment lists another handgun and an assault rifle recovered in connection with the case, per Cleveland.com's reporting.
Court Dates and Statutory Exposure
King-Camargo and Camargo Jr. were arraigned in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, each receiving $250,000 bonds, which they have since posted. Both pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, felonious assault, illegally firing a gun, and vandalism charges, and they are due back in court Monday before Judge Jeffrey Saffold, who was assigned to the case. Venancio Camargo Sr., who does not yet have attorney information listed, is scheduled to be arraigned on August 20. Attorneys for Camargo Jr. and King-Camargo did not return calls seeking comment, according to Cleveland.com.
Judge Saffold took office on the Common Pleas bench in January 2023 after 24 years practicing as a criminal defense attorney and prosecutor in Cleveland, according to The Marshall Project. He belongs to a prominent Cleveland judicial family; his mother, Shirley Strickland Saffold, served 29 years on the Common Pleas bench before retiring in late 2024, and his sister, Sydney Saffold, sits on the Cleveland Municipal Court, per the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
Under Ohio law, the stakes for all three men are steep. Attempted murder is a first-degree felony carrying a mandatory prison term of 3 to 11 years per count under Ohio Revised Code §§ 2923.02 and 2903.02, according to Court News Ohio, with mandatory consecutive time added for any firearm specifications. Felonious assault, charged under Ohio Revised Code § 2903.11, is a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 8 years in prison and fines up to $15,000 per count, per Zukerman Law.
A Neighborhood Already in Flux
The 1900 block of West 45th Street sits in Cleveland's near-West Side, part of the historic Detroit-Shoreway and Ohio City residential corridor bounded by Lake Erie, Interstate 90, West 45th Street and West 85th Street, according to Cleveland Historical. The corridor has also been drawing new investment, including the “45 West” mixed-use apartment project at West 45th Street and Lorain Avenue, which won Cleveland Landmarks Commission approval last August after a two-year delay caused by a building fire, as reported by NEOtrans.
Hoodline's earlier coverage of the shooting, published the day after gunfire erupted, described the incident as a possible drive-by before police identified any suspects. The case has since developed into a multi-generational family indictment spanning three decades of age between the youngest and oldest defendants, with the full scope of the shooting's damage — nine listed victims, multiple homes struck and two young children among those named in court filings — only becoming clear as the investigation progressed.
