CLEVELAND - A young boy was found dead in a home and a man was shot by police during an incident Wednesday morning on Cleveland’s east side, near the Warrensville Heights border, according to a Cleveland police officer at the scene.
Police were called to house in the 19000 block of Harvard Rd. at about 8:30 a.m.
According to Ed Tomba with the Cleveland Police Department, a 10-year-old girl who suffered a knife wound to her neck ran out of the house and down the street to her mom's work, Willow Park Nursing Home.
The mother, Markeia Smith, ran back to the house that's when neighbor Taminika Byrse saw her. "She was saying there's a guy in the house, he has a knife, he has my baby in the house, he has my baby in the house," Byrse recalled.
The man was 31-year-old Julian Whitaker who worked as a nursing assistant with Smith and Willow Park and moved into the home with her three weeks earlier.
The home is the last in Cleveland and sits up against the Warrensville Heights border. Warrensville Heights police were first to respond and several officers were outside the home when police say Whitaker emerged.
Tomba said Whitaker came out of the house with a knife in his hand and refused officers' orders to put it down. When he made a threatening gesture toward the officers, Warrensville police officers shot him, Tomba said.
Byrse was outside when it happened. "There was gunshots, he would fall, he would get back up and then they would fire and he would fall," she said. "He fell and got up several times."
Police then entered the home and discovered the body of 5-year-old Larvell Smith, according to Tomba.
Whitaker and the young girl were both transported to MetroHealth Medical Center. According to the hospital, Whitaker was in critical condition as of 3:40 p.m. Wednesday.
Neighbors said the 10-year-old girl, Deonche Lewis, tried to save her younger brother before he was killed. Markeia Smith are her two children had only been living in the home for about three weeks. The landlord told NewsChannel5 he had no idea Whitaker was living in the house.
Meanwhile a contractor hired to do work on the front steps of the home said he had a bad feeling at the house last week. "The couple were arguing Friday while we were here working that morning," he recalled.
"I noticed that they were evilly bitter at each other. I told my guys don't say nothing to them, just be cordial and get off the property."
When they returned to work this morning police had the place already surrounded. "I believe if we were here maybe 20 minutes, a half hour earlier, we could have prevented it," he said.
Police said at least 11 shots were fired during the incident, and officers are combing the area for the shell casings.
The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office, which released a mugshot of Whitaker, said he has at least two prior incidents on his record, including being charged with aggravated vehicular assault in October 2006.
Keep checking newsnet5.com for more information.
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