Grandfather locked up guns, but 13-year-old used tools to take apart, reassemble cabinet, police say
By Amanda Garrett
Akron Beacon Journal
April 25, 2018
STREETSBORO, Ohio -- The man seemed to do almost everything right to keep his guns out of the wrong hands.
He locked them inside a wood and glass cabinet and hid the key at someone else’s house, far from his own grandchildren or anyone else who might come snooping around.
That had been the arrangement for years, police said. And no one suspected any of the guns missing until Monday night when Streetsboro police found the man’s .357 Magnum at the home where two of his grandsons lived.
Police suspect the man’s 13-year-old grandson used the handgun to shoot and kill his 11-year-old brother.
It’s not clear when the 13-year-old — who expressed suicidal thoughts four days before his little brother’s homicide — got hold of the weapon, Streetsboro police Lt. Patricia Wain said.
But it took some work to steal it, she said.
When the 13-year-old couldn’t find the key to his grandfather’s gun cabinet, he used a screwdriver, pliers or whatever other tools he needed to dismantle part of the bottom part of the wooden cabinet and take the gun, Wain said.
Afterward, the boy put the cabinet back together so no one suspected anything was amiss, she said.
Police Wednesday were awaiting autopsy and ballistic tests to confirm the .357 was the weapon used to shoot Caleb Lishing about an hour after a baby sitter sent him to bed.
But it was the only gun found inside the home where the shooting occurred, Wain said.
Police still are investigating how the boy got the ammunition —whether it came from inside the grandfather’s locked cabinet or somewhere else, she said.
On Wednesday, as the community mourned Caleb Lishing, his 13-year-old brother made his first court appearance on aggravated murder charges.
The Beacon Journal is not naming the 13-year-old — who faces aggravated murder charges as a juvenile — because of his age. In Ohio, children younger than 14 cannot be bound over to face adult charges.
The boy, appearing with a public defender, denied the charges against him before a Portage County Juvenile Court judge, Administrator Tammy R. Dolin said.
The judge ordered the boy, who has been held since his arrest Monday, to continue to be detained both because of the seriousness of the charges against him and for his own safety, she said.
Police haven’t publicly speculated about a possible motive in the slaying.
A panicked 911 call made by a baby sitter Monday night reveal some of what happened immediately before and after the shooting.
The woman said she sent Caleb Lishing to bed about 8:30 p.m., followed by his 13-year-old brother at 9 p.m.
About 9:30 p.m., the baby sitter heard a pop and ran toward Caleb’s room. On the way, she ran into the 13-year-old, who asked her what that noise was.
Moments later, the baby sitter discovered Caleb in his room with a hole in his neck and “blood everywhere.”
Police said the 13-year-old left the home on foot and was quickly picked up by officers who responded to the shooting.
Homicides are rare in this growing city of about 16,000, a bedroom community serving both Akron and Cleveland.
The last happened in 1999 when a Warren man strangled 23-year-old Michelle Haas of Kent.
It happened inside a Streetsboro barn that served as a garage for an auto-repair shop. James O. Reline Jr. of Warren worked there and Haas was the girlfriend of one of his co-workers, according to a Beacon Journal story at the time.
Four days after Haas disappeared, Reline walked into the Warren Police Department and confessed to her murder, leading authorities to her body, the story said.
Reline, now 58, is serving a life sentence at Allen Correctional Institution and is next eligible for a parole hearing in 2024, state records show.
On Wednesday, the Streetsboro Community PTA said it had partnered with Steppingstones Pathway to host a candlelight vigil to honor Caleb beginning 4 p.m. Sunday at the Streetsboro school district’s stadium on Annalane Drive. Donations of teddy bears and stuffed animals will be collected at the event and donated to charity, the PTA said. Steppingstone Pathway is a personal and professional development company owned by Jackie Lishing, stepmother to Caleb and his 13-year-old brother.
Lishing promotes the business on her personal Facebook page, a place where she also shares others’ inspirational stories and tries to find help for people in need.
On Jan. 19, Lishing posted something she needed: “Believe it or not, I’m back in the ballpark looking for a reputable baby sitter.”
Three people responded on Facebook, including the baby sitter who called 911 Monday after Caleb was shot.
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