45 Shots Outside St. Malachi: The Ohio City Gun Battle, the Monday Night Meal, and What the Court Did With It

The Monday Night Meal at St. Malachi Parish, at West 25th Street and Washington Avenue in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood, has fed the near west side for decades. On July 29, 2024, just before 6 p.m., it was underway in the parish hall when the shooting started outside. One volunteer described it afterward as "like it's a carnival shooting gallery in front of a church." Another said simply: "It's a sanctuary. We were attacked."

Police counted more than 45 shots. Twenty-plus evidence markers went down on the street. Several parked cars were hit. Three men were wounded, none fatally. Seven bystanders outside the church were unharmed, and a wounded man walked into the hall with a bloody foot.

This file is built from the indictment, the Prosecutor's Office releases, the arraignments, the competency ruling, the pleas, and the sentencing.

What led to it

According to prosecutors, the shooting was the second act of a robbery. Earlier that day, Richo Samuels Jr., 35, and Jermaine George, 53, allegedly tried to rob three men outside an apartment complex near Washington Avenue and West 28th Street: Rahmean Ponzie, 37, Randall Russell, 30, and a 49-year-old man whose name has not been released.

Just before 6 p.m., the three spotted Samuels and George in front of St. Malachi. Ponzie and Russell got out of their car and opened fire. Samuels fired back as the trio tried to drive away; the 49-year-old, in the back seat, was hit in the arm. Samuels and George were both wounded.

Two details that circulated at the time are not in the record. Prosecutors never described the dispute as being over a stolen backpack; they charged it as an attempted robbery. And the number of people inside the hall was reported by News 5 Cleveland as about 60, not 120. We have corrected our own earlier description accordingly.

The response, on bodycam

Cleveland police reached the scene within about two minutes. Roughly 15 minutes later, officers found Samuels, wounded, near the Greater Cleveland Aquarium on the Flats' west bank, with a weapon in his possession, and detained him. The body camera footage of that detention is the core of our video on the case. Police Chief Dorothy Todd's summary: "We're just grateful no one was killed in this shooting."

Russell was arrested on August 1 after officers said they witnessed him in an unrelated aggravated robbery on Division Avenue. Ponzie was arrested August 3. The parish suspended the Monday Night Meal the same weekend.

The charges

A grand jury indicted all four on August 12, 2024. Prosecutor Michael O'Malley's statement was blunt: "These idiots engaged in a gun battle outside of St. Malachi Parish, firing over 45 shots. Numerous bystanders were put in grave danger."

• Samuels: two counts of discharging a firearm on or near prohibited premises, three counts of felonious assault, aggravated robbery, robbery, having weapons under disability, and four counts of criminal damaging.
• Ponzie and Russell, each: two counts of discharge, three counts of felonious assault, four counts of criminal damaging.
• George: aggravated robbery and robbery.

Samuels and Ponzie were arraigned August 14 and pleaded not guilty, with bonds of $100,000 each.

How it resolved, and how it didn't

The four cases went four different ways.

George's charges were dismissed without prejudice in September 2024, meaning the state can refile. He was never convicted of anything in connection with the shooting.

Samuels was found incompetent to stand trial on October 2, 2024, and sent to Northcoast Behavioral Healthcare for restoration. He was still listed as unfit in coverage from May 2025, with a pretrial expected that June. No later action has been publicly reported. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.

Ponzie and Russell pleaded guilty on April 7, 2025, to discharging a firearm on or near prohibited premises, felonious assault with a three-year firearm specification, and criminal damaging, with the remaining counts dismissed. On May 8, 2025, Judge Emily Hagan sentenced each to an indefinite term of five to six years, with credit for time served.

Under Ohio's Reagan Tokes Law, an indefinite sentence sets a minimum term with a maximum the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction can extend for misconduct; the three-year firearm specification is served first and consecutively. Our explainer on what court terms actually mean covers the difference between a dismissal, an incompetency finding, and a plea.

The parish

The Monday Night Meal resumed later in 2024 in a modified form. One attendee told reporters she had been coming since 2002.

Why this case file matters

Forty-five rounds outside a church during a community dinner, and no one died. That is the fact the police chief chose to lead with, and it is why the case is remembered as a near-miss rather than a massacre. The legal aftermath is instructive for a different reason: one gun battle produced a dismissal, an incompetency finding, and two negotiated pleas, which is closer to how most violent cases actually end than a single trial verdict. Our video on the case walks the bodycam from the first call to the detention by the aquarium. We track Samuels's competency status on our court dates tracker.

Sources & records

• Cuyahoga County Prosecutor: four indicted for July 29 shooting at St. Malachi Parish (Aug. 12, 2024)
• News 5 Cleveland: shots fired outside St. Malachi Parish (July 2024)
• Cleveland 19: two more suspects arrested (Aug. 5, 2024)
• Cleveland 19: arraignment (Aug. 14, 2024)
• Cleveland 19: Samuels found incompetent (Oct. 2, 2024)
• WKYC: Ponzie and Russell sentenced (May 8, 2025)
• News 5 Cleveland: Monday Night Meal suspended (Aug. 2024)

Case status as of this writing: Rahmean Ponzie and Randall Russell pleaded guilty and were sentenced May 8, 2025, to five to six years each; Jermaine George's charges were dismissed without prejudice; Richo Samuels Jr. was found incompetent to stand trial in October 2024, has not been convicted, and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. This article is based on the indictment, court proceedings, Prosecutor's Office releases, and contemporaneous reporting. Featured image: St. Malachi Church, West 25th Street, Cleveland, via Wikimedia Commons, credited below the image.