Shootout Rattles Beaver Hills

A late-night shootout on Ellsworth Avenue left over a dozen bullet shell casings on a Beaver Hills block — and saw neighbors crouched, confused, and scared inside their homes at the sudden burst of violence in the residential neighborhood.

Local landlord and Ellsworth resident Mendy Edelkopf said that he and his wife were watching a movie at home Monday night when they heard the sound of gunfire outside their door. ​“We thought we were in an army compound,” he told the Independent.

Nan Bartow was pulling the blinds down on her second-story bedroom window when she heard the sound of shots fired, and then saw the taillights of a car speeding down Moreland Road towards Norton Parkway. ​“It was very confusing. It was very scary. But it was also very fast,” she said.

David Kos and his wife were watching TV at around 10:30 p.m. when they heard the gunshots. ​“It was a bang bang bang bang bang.” The police arrived within just a few minutes, he said, and canvassed the area for at least two hours.

Receptions among neighbors to Monday night’s shooting were mixed.

For some, it crystallized a perceived uptick in violent crime in the residential neighborhood.

“All the neighborhood, we don’t feel safe,” said Edelkopf.

For others, it represented an aberration on an otherwise relatively quiet, safe, and neighborly block. ​“Nothing like this amount of shooting” has occurred on the block in her memory, Bartow said. ​“It’s very rare.”

While police don’t have definitive details yet, they believe the incident started with a gunshot fired on Jennings Way in West Rock. Two groups of people involved in that incident ended up confronting each other in cars in the shootout on Ellsworth, police believe, according to Assistant Chief Karl Jacobson.

Shortly thereafter a gunshot victim walked into Saint Raphael hospital. Police spokesperson Sgt. Shayna Kendall reported that the victim is a 20-year-old man who was transported by a private vehicle, and was listed in stable but critical condition.

Jacobson said police believe the man was shot during the earlier incident, although the man has not cooperated with police. ​“He wont’t even tell us the location where he was shot.”

“We’re working the case pretty hard, and we do have leads,” Jacobson said.

Lt. John Healy, the top cop for the neighborhood, confirmed that police found 14 shell casings near the intersection of Ellsworth and Moreland Road.

The police incident report that Beaver Hills Alder Jill Marks (pictured) sent out to constituents Monday night noted that ​“Shotspotter reported numerous rounds in the area.”

Residents of a Norton Parkway home stated that they heard ​“several loud noises, looked out their window, and saw a medium size SUV take a right onto Norton Parkway,” the report continues. ​“The gunshots were possibly related to two vehicles shooting at one another.”

Marks said that she too heard the shots fired Monday night. She said she and her family took cover inside their house.

“I feel like we’re living in a time where anything can happen anywhere,” she told the Independent by text on Tuesday. ​“People don’t care what neighborhood they are in when they are committing senseless acts (No Respect) for life and taxpayers! You never know who are your neighbors. As an alder my constituents know it is in my best interest to do what I can to make everyone feel safe. [W]e [are] all working together in ward 28.”

“Firecrackers? Or Gunshots?”

Kos (pictured) took a break from blowing leaves from his driveway on the sun-dappled Tuesday afternoon to tell the Independent about what he and his wife saw and heard outside their house 15 hours earlier.

“We were watching television” when he and his wife heard the bursts of gunfire, Kos said. He thought there were seven shots fired, while his wife thought there were 10.

“We have a lot of practice” recognizing the sound of gunfire, he said, because of the police department shooting range that for years was located not too far north from the otherwise quiet Ellsworth Avenue block.

He and his wife looked out the window. He ventured out onto his front porch soon after the police arrived. ​“We’re in a nice, quiet neighborhood and we’re subject to that kind of activity,” he said with dismay. Although this type of violence is unique for the block, he said, he has noticed cars more and more frequently parking on Ellsworth to conduct apparent drug deals.

“I think they should find another place to transfer drugs,” he said.

Bartow (pictured) said she had a good view of the incident from a second-story window in her house on Ellsworth. She had just pulled down the blinds when she heard the gunfire. She lifted the blinds, looked out, saw a car driving down Moreland, and then heard more shots from the direction of Norton Parkway.

She’s on a neighborhood WhatsApp text chain. Right after the shots were fired, she said, neighbors started posting the question: ​“Firecrackers? Or gunshots?” She had a feeling it was the latter.

Police arrived soon after the cars had disappeared, she said. They taped off the block and spent the new few hours looking for bullets and casings.

She thought that many more shots than just 10 had been fired that night.

“They were so rapid, there had to be significantly more,” she said.

“I Don’t Feel Safe”

Edelkopf was less sanguine about Monday night’s shooting. This isn’t a one-off, he told the Independent, but rather representative of an uptick in violence in the neighborhood.

“I don’t feel safe in this community,” he said.

That sentiment is a common one among many of his neighbors, he added.

He passed along an email that one of his Ellsworth Avenue neighbors sent to Police Chief Otoniel Reyes Tuesday morning.

“I am writing you to express my grave concern about the deteriorating crime situation in Beaver Hills,” that email reads. ​“When I first moved here three years ago, there were many police officers patrolling the neighborhood throughout the day and the evening. However over the last couple of years, there has been a significant decrease in police presence and that has resulted in a significant increase in crime.

“I’ve had my vehicle’s window smashed and my car rummaged through. Pretty much everybody I know in the neighborhood has had their car broken into at some point in the last couple of years, not to mention many have had their homes broken into as well. “

Monday night’s shooting, the letter reads, took place not far from the author’s house. ​“I have three young children and one of those bullets could’ve come into our house, but thank G‑d did not. My property taxes have now increased almost $19,000 per year, however the protection for our neighborhood has only seems to have gone down.

“I think it is only right that we should have a full-time police officer dedicated to Beaver Hills patrolling the neighborhood during the day and the evening. This is the only way that we are going to determine crime in this neighborhood. If criminals feel brazen enough to start shooting randomly throughout the neighborhood, something must be done before somebody is hurt or killed. 

“The only solution, again, is to make sure that we have a serious police presence in the neighborhood to deter criminals from committing such brazen acts. I would appreciate a response as to what is being done to address this very serious situation and to keep our neighborhood safe. Thank you so much for your prompt attention and concern to this matter.”

Paul Bass contributed reporting to this article.