In the early hours of September 20, 2025, in Cleveland's Broadway–Slavic Village, Joseph Anthony Szymkowski III, 42, white male, was found mortally wounded behind a home on the 3600 block of East 59th Street. Officers had rushed to the address after a ShotSpotter alert registered multiple rounds just after 2:00 a.m.; despite aid at the scene, the 42-year-old man was pronounced dead by EMS.
Later that morning, around 9:40 a.m., a second ShotSpotter alert drew police back to the same address, where 36-year-old Alissha Brown was discovered with a fatal gunshot wound. The twin scenes, hours apart at the same house, stunned neighbors and marked a day of layered grief on a single stretch of street.
As word of the violence spread, family notices began to sketch a more intimate portrait of the 42-year-old man from Cleveland, noting the abruptness of his passing and the circle of loved ones who knew him as “Joey.” Those remembrances fixed the date—September 20, 2025—and his age—42—while the public tributes and candles lit in his name emphasized that his death was part of the city's ongoing struggle with gun violence.
Investigators worked quickly. By September 23, the Cleveland Division of Police announced that two suspects were in custody for the double homicide: Andrew Dillon, 33, and Richard Koballa, 45. One arrest followed a manhunt that briefly prompted a shelter-in-place advisory in neighboring Shaker Heights near Kemper Road; the advisory was lifted after officers contained the area and took the 45-year-old into custody. Both men were charged with aggravated murder as the homicide unit continued piecing together what happened at the East 59th Street address.
Across official releases and local reporting, authorities have not publicly detailed a motive, nor have they disclosed any relationship among the 42-year-old man, the 36-year-old woman, and the suspects. What remains on the record is the cadence of the day—two alerts, two scenes, two lives taken—and the swift arrests that followed, leaving prosecutors and detectives to carry the story forward in court.
