CLEVELAND, Ohio – Suburban Cleveland homicides rose last year compared to 2020 and included incidents such as the beating death of a 5-year-old Parma boy, the killing of a bouncer and patron at a Parma bar, the shooting death of an 18-year-old man during an East Cleveland police chase and the first homicide in Broadview Heights since 1979.
As of late 2021, there were 71 homicides in the suburbs, according to statistics from the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner.
A total of 48 homicides were reported in the suburbs in 2020, the statistics shows.
What do the numbers say?
East Cleveland had the highest number of homicides at 14, down from 19 in 2020, according to the data.
Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, Parma and Warrensville Heights had drastically more homicides in 2021 than normal.
Garfield Heights had nine last year, up from four in 2020. Maple Heights had six, up from one in 2020. Parma also reported six murders last year, compared to one the year before. Warrensville Heights had five, up from 0 in 2020.
Other cities that had at least one homicide are Beachwood, Bedford, Bedford Heights, Broadview Heights, Brooklyn, Cleveland Heights, Euclid, Lakewood, Mayfield Heights, North Olmsted, North Royalton, Richmond Heights, South Euclid, University Heights, Valley View and Westlake.
What police departments are saying about the homicides
The city of Parma saw six homicides in 2021, including the beating death of 5-year-old Jax Ponomarenko and the shooting deaths of 27-year-old Cuyahoga County Jail officer Timoteo Cruz and 29-year-old Sean Michael Acierno at Rookies Sports Bar & Grill. Jax’s father, Matthew Ponomarenko, has been charged in his murder. Two brothers -- Juan Carlos Perez and Luis Carlos Candelario -- have been charged in the deaths of Cruz and Acierno.
Parma police Lt. Dan Ciryak said he wished he had the answers as to why the city saw six homicides this past year or even any kind of gun violence.
“Of the homicides that we had this year, most of these acts were committed by individuals that the victim knew,” he said. “As far as the gun violence goes, it seems as though more people are arming themselves with guns, and because the guns are readily available or accessible, these individuals end up using them.”
Ciryak believes more people seem to be under a “mental health strain” as coronavirus in America comes up on its 2-year mark.
“Additionally, many people are not working like they were prior to the pandemic, so they may be suffering an economic strain as well as a lack of socialization in general,” he said.
The department is committed to being proactive in enforcing traffic violations where the officers look beyond the initial probable cause, such as finding guns and seizing them during a routine stop.
Parma, as the seventh-largest city in the state, still has a very low crime rate compared to other cities, Ciryak said.
“Parma is still a very safe community despite the rise in homicides during this last year,” he said.
Westlake, which does not typically see an alarming amount of homicides, saw a double murder-suicide last year. The police department is also getting more calls about traffic stops involving guns.
“With the proliferation of guns on the streets, it is actually no real surprise that more are being brandished or actually fired during crimes,” Westlake police Capt. Gerald Vogel said. “We believe that proactively attempting to get guns out of the hands of those who should not have them or those who do not carry them legally is an extremely important step to help curtail firearm violence in the area.”
Patrol officers and detectives target those who choose to commit gun crimes in Westlake. As a result, Westlake police have collected guns in the past year that were used in shootings and homicides in other cities.
But the double murder-suicide in Westlake is not something you see every day in the city. Investigators believe Brent Shira, 45, of Jefferson killed his ex-girlfriend, Yi Chai, and her fiancé, Nathan Demetra, this fall before Shira took his own life.
“This is out of the ordinary for us but shows we are not immune from gun violence,” he said.
Euclid police Chief Scott Meyer said there are many factors that play into violent crime and violent gun crime in the city. The city saw five homicides last year.
“Having said that, I believe that a major factor ‘driving’ this is the movement away from law and order,” he said. “We are simply not holding offenders accountable for their actions. This lack of accountability is emboldening offenders to commit crimes and to continue to do so.”
The Euclid Police Department is focusing enforcement efforts on gun and drug prevention. They also are engaging with the community to create a rapport.
“We seek to build relationships and partnerships with our community in order to gain a shared trust, understanding, respect and support,” Meyers said.
Availability of guns is a root problem when it comes to homicides, expert says
Dan Flannery, a professor and director of the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research at Case Western Reserve University, blamed the increased suburban homicide on the excessive number of guns already on the street and easy accessibility to them.
“Whether it’s a domestic incident, random dispute, or a random drive-by shooting, or a road rage thing, those are the kinds of incidents that are popping up more outside of the city,” he said. “We see these significant increases in gun purchases.”
He also blamed more lethal ammunition and the general accessibility to more automatic, rapid-firing weapons.
The guns that are being used are automatic, and ones that fire rapidly, Flannery noted.
“More people have more guns and they’re using them often,” he said.
Flannery said as the number of homicides steadily increases each year, it’s becoming a trend.
“A year ago, we were talking mostly about COVID and stressors related to all of that and isolation and economic distress and decreased access to services,” he said. “If I had to slice up the pie, part of it I think still is COVID-related and all of these issues that are going on -- the number of weapons that are out there, police-community relations.
“The unsatisfactory answer (to the increase in homicides) is there is no single cause. It’s a complicated issue. You start adding up all these sorts of what used to be really unusual events and then a lot more of them happen, then your total numbers are going up.”