CLEVELAND, Ohio – Five years after a retired Cleveland firefighter was fatally shot while walking in a park, police continue looking for a suspect.
His family is looking for closure.
On July 21, 2020, Wilbert McCormick, 62, had been walking in Forest Hills Park in Glenville with his wife when he was struck in the back of the head by a stray bullet.
Five years later, his family, former colleagues and police updated the public about the slaying of public servant and a Navy veteran.
“I know somebody knows something. I know someone saw something,” Venita McCormick, who was married to Wilbert for more than 40 years, said at
a Tuesday press conference
.
“The purpose of today’s gathering is to make it known … that we’re still grieving, we’re still looking for whomever took my loved one’s life. And we need closure.”
McCormick and his wife had been walking for their health when he was shot at random. Venita McCormick said she remembers seeing several cars speed out of a nearby parking lot after the shooting.
“No idea why, where it came from, how and why,” she said. “My husband loved everybody, and we’re just living like everybody else does.”
McCormick worked as a Cleveland firefighter for 30 years before retiring in 2011, said Cleveland Fire Assistant Chief Thomas Schloemer.
McCormick’s colleagues remembered him as a kind person and a devoted family man.
Cleveland police have offered up to $5,000 for information that leads to the prosecution of the person responsible.
“We’re not asking for anyone to do anything that’s not within reason,” said Lorenzo Rose, McCormick’s brother-in-law.
“We’re just asking for someone to step forward and do something that you would want someone else to do for your family member, for your loved one.”
