Sarah Crawford, the wife of Paul Crawford, who was shot on Benton Street in Mansfield the evening of July 18, gives her account of the incident.
According to Crawford, she, her husband and their daughter returned from the grocery store, carrying bags back to their house. Their 9-year-old daughter was crossing the street with grocery bags in her hands as a red Saturn was speeding down the street. The car would have hit her if her father hadn’t jumped out and moved her out of the way.
“He yelled at him for speeding and almost hitting her. He just told him to drive slow because of kids in the neighborhood,” said Mrs. Crawford. Shortly after the scare, the family went inside to finish putting away groceries.
Some time after the incident, while Paul Crawford was leaving the house to work on a roof with his brother, the same red Saturn drove by and a man inside fired four rounds in Crawford’s direction. Three of the rounds hit Crawford.
Their daughter witnessed the incident from a window in the home. Mrs. Crawford and her daughter ran to his aid with rags and waited for the emergency medical technicians to arrive.
“I don’t understand why someone would shoot him for yelling at him for almost hitting our daughter. It doesn’t make any sense. We don’t know the shooter. It was the first time we had ever seen the red Saturn,” said Mrs. Crawford.
According to the last update received by the Source, Paul Crawford remains in serious condition at Grant Medical Center in Columbus.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the suspect at large is encouraged to call the Mansfield Police Department at 419-755-9724. The suspect is reportedly a black male, 25-36 years old, and weighing between 190-220 pounds.
