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A shooting Wednesday evening near Pulaski Field in South Wheeling sent two men to the hospital, and local residents have mixed feelings on the state of their neighborhood.
Bob Gibbons was the one who called the police to help one man, who he said was abandoned by his friends as they ran in a panic, leaving him to bleed on the sidewalk in front of his house. Gibbons barked orders to take care of him while police arrived.
"They came running up here, and he ended up there," Gibbons said, pointing to the sidewalk. "They tried to carry him away, and one guy's going 'He's been shot! He's been shot!' I said, 'Yeah, that's real ... smart, let your buddy bleed out and die.' They finally set him down while his buddy ran up the street."
The Wheeling Police Department said two men were ultimately found to have been injured in the shooting, which happened around 7:33 p.m. Wednesday near the area of 46th and Jacob streets, and taken to Wheeling Hospital.
One man remains hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, while the other was treated before being taken into custody on warrants from Belmont County.
Police say a person of interest -- a Black man standing 6 feet tall with long hair and wearing a black hoodie at the time of the incident -- was seen walking toward Benwood with another Black man.
Detectives are actively investigating and gathering information in the area, the department said.
Gibbons said that despite the previous night's events, he did not feel particularly unsafe at his home, though he was growing increasingly dissatisfied with the state of the area.
"I'll be honest, I'm worried, but I personally feel safe," he said. "I'll sit out here (on my porch) now, to have a cup of coffee, but I'll have my sidearm on me."
A neighbor, Debbie Sengewalt, said she attributed violence in the area to drug activity, and called on Wheeling police to step up patrols.
"We have asked the police chief to do something, and they haven't done anything about it," Sengewalt said. "There's two or three houses around here, and they've never done nothing. ... I wish they did more patrols down here, and wish they did something about it. They're everywhere."
Not all locals, however, were on edge. Jacob Street resident Bob Mozingo described the area as a fairly sedate and sleepy neighborhood, and that the shooting was a "freak accident" interrupting an otherwise peaceful streak of quiet days and nights.