The residents of a house near the Sedgwick neighborhood that has been the site of many 911 calls, drug activity and a police-involved shooting have finally been forced to leave.
On Thursday, two Syracuse police officers and a representative of the city’s law department delivered a vacate order to a home at 707 Grant Blvd. On Friday and Saturday, a group of people related to the property’s owner changed the home’s locks and boarded up its windows.
“It was growing as a public safety risk and health risk," Syracuse spokesman Greg Loh said.
According to residents who live in the neighborhood and other city officials, the house had been trending that way for at least a year. Officers responded to at least three serious calls at 707 Grant Blvd. in the last year, culminating with an officer-involved shooting in December.
On Dec. 31, officers responded to a call about a menacing person at the house. When they arrived, they found Michael Viola, 22, in an upstairs room holding a hatchet, according to court documents. In sworn statements, officers said Viola raised the hatchet and approached them.
Officers Brandon Hanks and Joseph LeBlanc shot at Viola, hitting him at least once. Viola survived.
According to county tax records, the house is owned by Donald Fida and James C. Fida. Donald Fida, 96, does not live at the house.
During at least two February meetings, residents asked the mayor what the city could do about fixing problems at the property.
“I know our priority is to address the specific situation, which is a lot of people in and out of the property, committing crime," Mayor Ben Walsh said at the time. "We’re less concerned with who owns it than we are with what’s actually happening there. And what’s been happening there is not good.”
To force those inside to leave, the city used its nuisance abatement law. It previously used the law to shut down Tip A Few Tavern just a few blocks from the Grant Boulevard house last year. The bar had become the site of frequent complaints and calls for police.
After a March 2 public hearing, the city served a vacate order at the property on March 10. The order was scheduled to go into effect March 17.
Those frequenting the house didn’t leave and the city “observed” what was happening at the house for the next nine days, Loh said.
In that span, Syracuse police officers responded to nine 911 calls and another 12 property checks at the home. So many people were coming and going, Loh said the home was also in violation of the recent executive order on gatherings.
Through the office of Neighborhood and Business Development, the city offered housing assistance to nine people who had been staying at the property. One person took the city up on the offer, though it’s unclear if any were formal tenants, Loh said.
Shortly after the officers and law department official served those on the property with a notice, the Onondaga County 911 center received a call about a suspicious car on the 400 block of Wheaton Road, around the corner from the home.
When officers arrived, they found the car, which had a switched license plate, according to police spokesman Matthew Malinowski. Initially officers wanted to tow the car, but they could see drugs and drug paraphernalia inside, he said.
They found a small amount of marijuana, Lunesta (a sleeping pill), alprazolam (the generic name for Xanax) and a drug that tested positive for methamphetamines, according to Malinowski.
Officers arrested Lauren Russa, 34, and Jeremiah Nickerson, 38, and charged both with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Both had ties to the home at 707 Grant Blvd.
Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Chris Libonati via the Signal app for encrypted messaging at 585-290-0718, by phone at the same number, by email or on Twitter.
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