After 80 shots fired, Warren mother prays there's no more

WARREN

A mother of five says she had just brought her kids in from playing in back of her Fairview Gardens apartment building Saturday night when gunfire erupted.

Police say about 80 shots were fired in the 10:50 p.m. incident. Afterward, Heaven Lynn Townsend, 21, of Youngstown lay dead a short distance from where the children were playing.

“Me and my daughter were washing dishes, and we heard gunfire, and we immediately dropped to the ground,” Naomi Faison said.

She saw two males who Faison believed were with Townsend “running across a field,” she said. She thinks they were with Townsend because of something she heard one of them say.

“My kids were outside enjoying the last weekend before school,” Faison said, lamenting that such a peaceful scene in a normally peaceful neighborhood filled with lots of open spaces would take such a deadly turn.

“We’re trying to motivate the kids to stay in school,” she said. “It’s emotional. It’s real crazy,” she said. “I just pray to God that nothing like this happens again. Too many kids around here.”

Read more about the matter in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.