Ohio gunman kills new wife, 3 kids
starfish
Hunt on for Ohio gunman who killed 2 women, 3 kids
By M.R. KROPKO 1 hour ago
CLEVELAND (AP) — Police searched Friday for a newlywed suspected of
killing his wife, his sister-in-law and three young children in one of
the city's most horrific shootings in years.
The victims were found Thursday night on the top floor a two-family home
on the city's west side, police said.
Authorities said they were searching for 33-year-old Davon Crawford,
whose wife, Lechea Crawford, 30, was among those killed.
Police identified the other victims as Lechea Crawford's sister Rose
Stevens, 25, and her three children: Destiny Woods, 4; and 2-year-old
twins Dion and Davion Primm. A fifth child was wounded and being treated
at MetroHealth Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Susan Christopher
told The Plain Dealer.
Authorities had previously said the victims were one woman and four
children; there was no immediate explanation Friday for the discrepancy.
A police helicopter assisted in the search and authorities were checking
transit system buses.
"It's probably one of the worst multiple shootings that I've seen in a
long time," said Police Chief Michael McGrath.
Outside the home, Lamar Arnold told The Plain Dealer that Crawford, whom
he recognized from a police photo shown on television, was the man who
had married his daughter on Monday.
Arnold said his daughter had sent him an unusual cell phone text message
at 7:47 p.m. Thursday saying "Call me, live your life, love it."
"Then I tried to call her about 12 times, and there never was an
answer," he said.
Police said there were two rental units in the house, and all the
victims were killed in the upstairs apartment. The building is on a
tree-lined street of older, mostly two-story frame houses and some
apartment buildings.
India Cobb told WJW-TV she saw Crawford, whom she identified as a
cousin, earlier Thursday and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
"It didn't seem anything was wrong or anything like that," Cobb said.
"He just got married ... He just had a baby girl. I don't understand
what went wrong. I don't know what happened. I'm still trying to find
out myself."
A crowd milled around late Thursday near the home, including some who
said they were family and friends of the victims.
Shortly after midnight, about four hours after the shootings, several
women whom police had let into the cordoned-off area came back in tears,
got into a car and left. Another woman walked away from the scene.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
td
"starfish" <ldav...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:12510-49B...@storefull-3133.bay.webtv.net...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g0z5MiV1-mN-gbXhAZT7IIo99TLAD96OJ8F01
Hunt on for Ohio gunman who killed 2 women, 3 kids
By M.R. KROPKO 1 hour ago
CLEVELAND (AP) - Police searched Friday for a newlywed suspected of
------------------------------
Takes a really *big/brave* man to shoot down two women and three babies. :(
Did I read that right 'he just had a baby daughter', from the article? so
is that the child who survived, I wonder?
td
Poe
A teenager survived. I guess he killed is little daughter.
The killer was just married a few days ago, but has a history of
domestic violence and a manslaughter conviction he did time for. Great
catch.
I wondered what the helicopters were about last night.
td
"Poe" <hau...@terrible-thought.com> wrote in message
news:71d0ugF...@mid.individual.net...
-----------------------------------
I thought the article stated all the dead children were the sisters kids?
A four year old, and two year old twins.
Poe
I'm a little confused who the dead kids are. I know he has/had a little
girl and I heard a report the survivor was 13 years old. The rest IDK
for sure.
Smokie Darling (Annie)
> td wrote:
> > "Poe" <haun...@terrible-thought.com> wrote in message
> >news:71d0ugF...@mid.individual.net...
> >> td wrote:
> >>> "starfish" <ldavi...@webtv.net> wrote in message
> >>>news:12510-49B...@storefull-3133.bay.webtv.net...
> >>>http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g0z5MiV1-mN-gbXhAZT...
I wonder if maybe the baby didn't die (from any number of things) and
he blamed the wife and her sister, then killed the kids because they
were there and saw him? Since there was an initial report of 4 dead
children, and they refer to the injured child as the "fifth child"
being treated.
Ever watch First 48? They had a man who killed his brother, the
brother's wife/girlfriend, and 2 of their 3 children. He'd tried to
the third, but that young man survived. All because he got into a
fight with his brother and the others saw him do it.
Poe
Apparently all the kids killed were the sister's, and now they're saying
the survivor is 5 years old. Local news is really confusing, but it is
turning into a huge manhunt.
td
"Smokie Darling (Annie)" <Barnab...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:dce6144f-cfd4-4961...@40g2000prx.googlegroups.com...
--------------------------------
Good theory, but his *cousin*, the one who said 'he had so much going for
him, new wife, new baby,' didn't make any mention of anything negative
having recently happened. I'd think if something had happened to the baby,
she'd have mentioned that. Very confusing. Do we know who even lived in
that duplex? If I read that, I've forgotten or it's gotten lost in all the
other confusion. I did read he had *other* child/children. something about
'child support' payments, I think.
td
Poe
If I had to guess he was hopped up on crack or something, and money was
involved. The area is a really financially depressed area so that plus
bad drugs might have been the problem.
They seem to have him surrounded in a house right now.
Smokie Darling (Annie)
> "Smokie Darling (Annie)" <Barnabus1...@yahoo.com> wrote in messagenews:dce6144f-cfd4-4961...@40g2000prx.googlegroups.com...
>
> > > I thought the article stated all the dead children were the sisters
> > > kids?
> > > A four year old, and two year old twins.
>
> > I'm a little confused who the dead kids are. I know he has/had a little
> > girl and I heard a report the survivor was 13 years old. The rest IDK
> > for sure.
>
> I wonder if maybe the baby didn't die (from any number of things) and
> he blamed the wife and her sister, then killed the kids because they
> were there and saw him? Since there was an initial report of 4 dead
> children, and they refer to the injured child as the "fifth child"
> being treated.
>
> Ever watch First 48? They had a man who killed his brother, the
> brother's wife/girlfriend, and 2 of their 3 children. He'd tried to
> the third, but that young man survived. All because he got into a
> fight with his brother and the others saw him do it.
>
> --------------------------------
>
> Good theory, but his *cousin*, the one who said 'he had so much going for
> him, new wife, new baby,' didn't make any mention of anything negative
> having recently happened.
I had been thinking that the baby had died the morning he killed
everyone else. Reading the rest of Poe's posts though... Looks like
I'm wrong. Where *is* that baby now though?
I'd think if something had happened to the baby,
> she'd have mentioned that. Very confusing. Do we know who even lived in
> that duplex? If I read that, I've forgotten or it's gotten lost in all the
> other confusion.
It appeared that he, his wife, her sister and children lived in the
two apartments. At least that was how I'd read it.
td
-----------------------------------
Here you go, hopefully this one is accurate:
CLEVELAND - A two-month old girl was found unharmed inside the West 89th
Street home where five people were killed Thursday, police sources said.
Laylah Crawford was born in January to Devon and Lechea Crawford. The baby
is safe and being cared for, police sources said.
Police continue to search the near West Side for Devon Crawford, who police
believe killed Lechea, her sister and three children.
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/03/twomonthold_unharmed_by_shooti.html
Nancy Rudins
Keep us up to date if you can, please? The national news isn't
saying much.
Thanks,
Nancy
td
CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - A domestic violence case took a turn for the worst
Thursday evening on Cleveland's Westside after a 33-year-old man reportedly
opened fire on his family, killing five people.
The victims have been identified as 25-year-old Rose Stevens; her
four-year-old daughter, Destiny Woods; and her two-year-old twin boys, Dion
and Davion Primm. Stevens's sister and Crawford's wife, 30-year-old Lechea
Crawford, was also killed.
Three of the children were taken to the hospital, where two of them died.
The lone survivor of the shooting is a young boy. He remains hospitalized,
but his condition is unknown. The other victims were pronounced dead at the
scene. Reportedly, two other children, ages 11 and 12, were able to escape
unharmed.
Cleveland police are searching for Davon Crawford. Crawford is no stranger
to the law and was first convicted of manslaughter in 1995. He was sentenced
to five to 25 years in prison, but only served six of those.
He was a free man in 2002 but broke the law again and was convicted for
felony assault that was tied to a shooting and endangering a child. He
served another five years for those offenses.
http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=9958388&nav=0aWU
starfish
they the sister-in-law's kids, or were they the wife's kids from
previous relationships? One of the twins had the same name, Davon, as
the gunman, no?
Poe
Here is one of the local sites with some breaking news:
http://www.newsnet5.com/
The interface is lame - you have to click on the silver "News" bar to
get the breaking news to click in, I guess.
Anther one: http://www.woio.com/
Not sure which, if either, is any good.
Even here with a manhunt going on and supposedly a house surrounded by a
swat team somewhere, they're running soaps instead. I'd forgotten why I
never watch local news, now I remember.
Smokie Darling (Annie)
Sounds like the children were the wife's niece and nephews. The boys
were Dion and Davion.
Nancy Rudins
Thanks!
Nancy
td
through the carnage, depending upon which details are correct.
Ohio manhunt for killer of three kids, two women
47 minutes ago
CHICAGO (AFP) - Police scoured the streets of Cleveland, Ohio Friday for a
man accused of shooting dead his wife, his sister-in-law and three small
children in a rampage just days after he was married.
A fourth child, who was wounded in the shooting spree, was recovering in the
hospital, where family members were keeping a constant vigil.
"We want to say to the suspect his best bet is to turn himself in because we
will get him," Mayor Frank Jackson said at a press conference. "He will be
found and he will be arrested if he's still alive."
Police say they are still trying to piece together what happened on Thursday
night when a child ran out of the middle-class home screaming for help at
around 8:00 pm (0100 GMT Friday).
"He was not shot, but not for lack of trying on behalf of Davon Crawford,"
said police chief Michael McGrath.
By the time police arrived, the suspect Crawford had fled on foot. His car
was parked in the driveway, but another vehicle was blocking it.
Two-year-old twin boys, a four-year-old girl and two women were found dead
from gunshot wounds.
"Right now it's looking like it was some kind of domestic argument that
sparked this tragedy," McGrath told reporters.
Crawford was living in the duplex with his new wife, their two month-old
baby, his sister-in-law and six other children.
The grandparents lived downstairs, McGrath said.
Police identified the dead as: Rose Stevens, 25, her four-year-old daughter
Destiny Woods, her twin sons Dion and Davion Primm and her sister, Lechea
Crawford, 30.
Police said they were told that Davon and Lechea Crawford were married on
Monday.
Davon Crawford, 33, has a long criminal history, including a 1995 conviction
for manslaughter for killing a man in a dispute over a girlfriend, the
Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.
Neighbors and family members told local media the slaying came as a complete
shock.
"Right before we left there they were on their bikes playing," a woman who
lived in the neighborhood female Cleveland Fox network affiliate WJW Channel
8.
"Then I get home and the little eight-year-old comes up and hugs me ...
calling for help," said the woman, who broke down in tears and did not give
her name.
A woman named India Cobb, who identified herself as Crawford's cousin, told
WJW that the suspect had earlier shown no signs of anger.
"It didn't seem anything was wrong or anything like that," said Cobb. "He
just got married on his birthday."
"He just had a baby girl. I don't understand what went wrong. I don't know
what happened. I'm still trying to find out myself."
Police had initially reported that four children and one adult were killed
in the incident.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gWUPDBOGeEoqriNSkKWOhjiMD-XA
E/C Annie
> http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g0z5MiV1-mN-gbXhAZT...
Police searching for Cleveland killer find body
By M.R. KROPKO – 16 minutes ago
CLEVELAND (AP) — A coroner's office in Cleveland says a body has been
found in a house near the area where police are searching for a man
suspected in the slayings of his wife, his sister-in-law and three
young children.
The identity of the body has not been released. Police are on the
scene.
Police have been searching for 33-year-old Davon Crawford.
His wife, Lechea, was among those killed in their house Thursday
night. The woman's father said the couple had just married.
Davon Crawford was freed in 2007 after serving separate prison terms
for voluntary manslaughter and felony assault involving domestic
violence.
The other victims killed were Lechea Crawford's sister and the
sister's three young children.
Nancy Rudins
Thanks!
Nancy