A 16-year-old was wounded by gunfire near Akron’s Linda Theatre around 7 p.m. Tuesday. The teen was shot in the leg and taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Akron Beacon Journal reported that the shooting occurred in the area of the Linda Theatre and Goodyear Boulevard. Lt. Michael Murphy told the newspaper that police were looking into whether a possible fight among teens preceded the gunfire; the circumstances remain unclear.
Police believe the suspected shooter is an adult. As of Wednesday, the suspect had not been identified or taken into custody, according to the report.
A Summer Marked By Youth Gun Violence
Tuesday's shooting adds to what has been a difficult stretch for Akron when it comes to young people and gunfire. Just weeks earlier, two 15-year-old boys were shot and wounded during a gathering of teenagers who had come together to watch a fight, per cleveland.com's report on the incident. That shooting happened around 7 p.m. in the 900 block of Hartford Avenue, with both boys taken to Akron Children's Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The outlet noted that the Hartford Avenue shooting came at the end of a summer that saw multiple shootings involving teenagers or young adults across the city. In another case reported by News 5 Cleveland, a 15-year-old fired shots at a 28-year-old driver during an alleged road-rage incident, and the driver returned fire, striking a 17-year-old passenger.
Citywide Numbers And Response Efforts
Akron's broader shooting numbers have been mixed. Ideastream Public Media reported that the city logged 829 shootings and shots-fired calls in the first half of 2025, up from 823 during the same period in 2024. The same report found that adult shooting victims actually dropped sharply, from 92 in the first half of 2024 to 46 in the first half of 2025.
Ideastream also noted that a mass shooting at Akron's Mason Community Learning Center in July 2025 injured more than a dozen young people, underscoring the scale some of these incidents have reached. In response, the city has put money behind youth programming, including $100,000 in grants to sports programs and events aimed at keeping young people engaged, according to the same report.
A Prior Shooting And A Prevention Resource
A separate shooting on Sept. 17 near Hartford Avenue and Little Street offers a point of comparison, though no connection to the Linda Theatre case has been reported. News 5 Cleveland reported that two 15-year-old boys were shot there and police believed at least two people fired shots and were seeking those responsible. The Linda Theatre report, by contrast, described a suspected shooter believed to be an adult. For families with a gun at home, Akron Children’s offers a prevention resource: the Akron Beacon Journal reported that families can get a free trigger lock through the hospital’s emergency department and primary care offices. The report describes the program but does not provide evidence about its effects or reach.
A Larger Public Health Concern
Akron Children's Hospital has flagged youth gun violence as a significant public health issue, with a hospital conference page cited by the Beacon Journal noting that firearm-related injuries are the leading cause of death for kids. That same page pointed to 2021 as a grim benchmark, when the United States recorded an all-time high of 48,830 gun deaths.
Akron police have not released further details on the investigation.
