911 calls from Sugarcreek Twp. fatal shooting released

A day after a Dayton man was killed by gunfire inside the Cedar Trail Apartments in Sugarcreek Twp., the township’s police chief said the public is safe.

“The public is safe,” Chief Michael Brown said Thursday morning, adding that there is no concern about a shooter being on the loose.

Officials responded to the 1800 block of Surrey Trail just after midnight Wednesday and found Byron Moses, 29, deceased from apparent gunshot wounds in the hallway of the apartment building, Brown said.

Two people called 9-1-1 to report the shooting.

The first 9-1-1 caller didn’t know that someone had been shot.. The caller told the dispatcher there was a shooting and there were bullet holes in their apartment door. The caller told the dispatcher she could hear people crying in the apartment next door. The caller didn’t see who did the shooting.

The second 9-1-1 call came in seconds later.

Caller: "A man has been shot … He was trying to rob an apartment."

The dispatcher asked for more details and whether the person who was shot was OK.

Caller: "He's not breathing."

The caller told the dispatcher the occupants of the apartment where the shooting occurred were a man, woman and a little baby. The caller said they left in an unknown vehicle.

In the background, you can hear the caller tell others in her apartment, possibly children, to stay in the bathroom out of fear that more shots would be fired.

Dispatcher: "Do you know how many times the guy has been shot?"

Caller: "At least twice."

Dispatcher: "Can you tell where he's been shot?"

Caller: "In the upper … left shoulder."

Dispatcher: "Is he still breathing."

Caller: "No … Not that I see. He might be breathing very shallowly."

The dispatcher asked the caller whether the shooter was black or white.

Caller: "I didn't see who shot him. I just heard the shots."

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has been assisting with the case.

A number of people have been questioned, and BCI agents will be conducting additional interviews, said Jill Del Greco, spokesperson for the Ohio BCI and Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

As police were arriving on scene, they noticed a black Cadillac leaving the area at high speed. Believing it could possibly be connected to the shooting, authorities pursued the vehicle down Wilmington Pike to I-675.

The pursuit was called off in Dayton. The vehicle was last scene on northbound I-75 from U.S. 35, police said.

A short time later, a man approached officials at the shooting scene and said he had been inside an apartment unit with a woman when the victim began knocking on the door. That man was taken in for questioning as a person of interest.

However, no arrests have been made at this time, Jill Del Greco, spokeswoman for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, said in a statement.

Evidence collected at the scene has been submitted to the BCI crime lab, she said.

Police said Thursday the shooting is still under investigation, so a conclusion for why the shooting took place has not been determined.

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