Man found dead in Akron parking lot

A man was found dead early Tuesday in this parking lot in Akron.

(Adam Ferrise, cleveland.com)

AKRON, Ohio -- A man was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head early Tuesday in a parking lot in the Highland Square neighborhood.

A woman discovered the body about 9 a.m. in the 200 block of Grove Street. The Summit County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide later in the day.

The medical examiner is expected to release the man's name after his family is notified.

Bobbi Brown, who lives across the street from the parking lot, discovered the body early Tuesday and called 911. She and her son, Matt Brown, heard a gunshot between midnight and 3 a.m.

"I heard a gunshot last week but it turned out to be nothing," Matt Brown said. "I thought nothing of it last night."

Both Matt and Bobbi Brown said they heard nothing following the single gunshot. Bobbi Brown left her house about 9 a.m. and saw the man's body face down in the parking lot. She initially thought the body was a mannequin.

"His skin was rigid and I thought someone was playing a joke," she said. "I pulled in the driveway and got out. I saw the wound and the blood and I ran back to my car and called 911."

Akron police arrived and investigated at the scene about three hours, neighbors said.

Blood stained the pavement where the man's body lay. The lot is adjacent to a duplex tucked in a residential neighborhood. Some of the nearby homes were vacant but most have people living in them.

Bobbi Brown said that she noticed arguments breaking out at a nearby home over the summer. Gunshots are not uncommon. She said she's heard two other gunshots in the neighborhood in the last two weeks.

"It's pretty scary," she said. "I've never seen a dead body before. It kind of freaked me out."