Six adults are facing charges after a woman was struck by gunfire early Friday on Elyria's Garden Street, with police saying one firearm has been recovered so far and the investigation remains active. The woman's injuries are described as non-life-threatening, and officers arrived to find multiple people connected to the chaotic scene.
According to cleveland19.com, officers were called to the 1000 block of Garden Street around 12:50 a.m. on October 23 after reports of multiple gunshots. As detailed by WKYC, the Elyria Police Department said six people were arrested following the shooting that left the woman injured. Officers who responded found the woman struck by gunfire; she received treatment, and her injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, per the department's account.
Who Was Charged and With What
Police said one gun has been recovered so far, and the case is still being worked. Of the six arrested, five were charged with aggravated riot, the station's report notes. Edward Brown, 44, of Elyria, faces counts of aggravated riot, assault, and disorderly conduct while intoxicated.
Hannah Johns, 23, and Paris Watson, 27, both of Elyria, were each charged with aggravated riot and assault, while Tommy Drake III, 30, and Jessie Mesas, 32, both of Elyria, were charged with aggravated riot alone, the same account states. Mycal Broughsville, 37, of Elyria, was charged separately with felonious assault and discharging a firearm at or near prohibited premises — the only defendant tied directly to firing a weapon in the charges as reported.
Part of a Rough Stretch for Elyria
The Garden Street shooting follows a stretch police have flagged as unusually violent for the city. Elyria police told News 5 Cleveland that three shootings occurred within 48 hours over a recent weekend, and that the gunfire was not random. Investigators said many of the firearms recovered after those shootings appeared to be stolen, and that the people involved were familiar with one another — though it is not established whether the Garden Street incident was one of the three shootings described in that broader report.
That same weekend report described a shooting that left one person with non-life-threatening injuries and several people in custody, along with an earlier incident on Foster Avenue where an 18-year-old suffered a gunshot wound and a 17-year-old and 15-year-old were later arrested. A separate report described five people arrested, including a 17-year-old and a 16-year-old, after gunfire near Allen and Garden streets. Police said all of those shootings remained under investigation.
A Pattern Stretching Back to Summer
Elyria has seen gun violence arrests before this year. In late July, a shooting in a residential neighborhood wounded one person, according to cleveland.com. Officers were called to the 200 block of Wooster Street just after 2:30 a.m. that night for reports of multiple gunshots, and the victim was hospitalized with wounds police said were not believed to be life-threatening.
Steven Baker, 22, of Lorain, was charged with two counts of felonious assault and one count of discharging a firearm on or near a prohibited premises in that case, while Enrique Hintz, 20, of Bedford, faced complicity charges on the same counts, cleveland.com reported. Both men were held in the Lorain County Jail on $300,000 cash bonds.
What the Charges Mean Under Ohio Law
Under the Ohio Revised Code, felonious assault is generally classified as a second-degree felony, the charge Broughsville faces. Aggravated riot, the charge against five of the six defendants, is addressed in a separate section of the code, which states that violations can rise to fourth-degree or fifth-degree felonies depending on the specific division violated. Discharging a firearm at or near prohibited premises, meanwhile, is treated as a fourth-degree misdemeanor under certain divisions of the statute, though Broughsville's charge in this case was listed at a felony level.
No court dates, bond amounts, or pleas for the six Garden Street defendants have been reported. Police have said the investigation remains active, and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Miller at 440-326-1215 or [email protected].
