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Neighbors shocked by Howland shooting

HOWLAND –The heavily traveled Niles-Cortland Road between state Route 82 and the Eastwood Mall was closed for six hours after a Howland man shot five people in his driveway at 1564 Niles-Cortland Road.

Howland police Chief Nick Roberts said he received a call around 4:30 p.m. Saturday of an active shooter on Niles-Cortland Road.

”When I first got the call of an active shooter, I did not know if someone was standing on Route 46 firing at cars driving by or was inside a business. It takes your breath away when you get that phone call,” Roberts said.

Police arrested 47-year old Nasser Hamad in connection with the shooting of five people, two of whom have died, with three others remain hospitalized.

Bob and Trisha Stark who live next store to Hamad and who have their own business, Ohio Pressure Wash, were not at home at the time but were shocked when they did get home later on Saturday.

”I didn’t know what had happened at first … I was really shocked to see our house surrounded by police,” said Trisha Stark.

Bob Stark said he was not aware of an specific incidents at his neigbor’s home but had heard of an ongoing family feud and squabbles where someone slashed Hamad’s vehicle tire.

”It came to a head on Saturday. It’s terrible when something like this happens in your own neighborhood. Everyone I know who heard about this was shocked that could happen,” he said.

Roberts said police have responded in the past to domestic-related calls at Hamad’s home that turned into menacings, calls of thefts, and reports of dogs on his property.

Roberts said he was thankful there were no more gunshot victims considering how busy Niles-Cortland Road is on a Saturday afternoon.

‘We have not heard from any hospitals of any gunshots wounds from anyone driving by who may have been hit by gunfire,” the chief said.

Roberts said anyone in the area at the time should check to see of any bullet holes in their vehicles.

Several businesses in the area were affected as heavily-traveled Route 46 was closed for six hours.

Jaimee James, manager of Dunkin Donuts, which is across the street from the shooting, said she heard of what happened from her employees and went to the business.

”They called me and told me what had happened around 5 p.m. My shift leader asked me if I had seen the news and told me what happened. I did what I could to get to the store to make sure everyone was safe. We shut down for a couple of hours since we couldn’t really do anything with police closing down Route 46. There were flashing lights everywhere,” she said.

Police allowed James to proceed on Howland Springs Road after she told them she was store manager at Dunkin Donuts and needed to get there to make sure everyone was safe.

Staff closed the doors so that everyone inside felt safe inside. James said all customers who were there could have stayed but all got in their cars and left.

”They wanted to get out of there,” she said.

James said they did serve police officers who remained at the scene for several hours who needed something to drink or use the restroom.

A woman entering Krystie’s Dance Academy which is directly across from Hamad’s home, declined to give her name but said the staff and dancers at the academy at the time of the shooting were very frightened as they stayed inside with the door locked.

Sheila Fell, manager of the Waffle House, located north of the shooting, said she had left at 3:30 p.m. and later received a call about the shooting.

Fell said none of her staff saw anything.

”The customers were allowed to leave, and my third shift was allowed to come in,” she said.

Nick Kale, manager of Stone Bridge Grille and Tavern, said he was working Saturday but did not see or hear anything until police arrived, and traffic was being blocked.

”We didn’t have many customers when they closed the road,” he said.

bcoupland@tribtoday.com

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