Demetrius Willie Pride was a 28-year-old man living in Cleveland, Ohio. Born on October 28, 1997, he was just three days shy of his 29th birthday when his life was tragically cut short. Public records show he was a resident of Buckingham Avenue in Cleveland and had been registered to vote in Cuyahoga County since 2016. While further details about his personal life, family, and work are not widely known, his sudden death left a void in the lives of those who knew him.
The evening of
Sunday, October 25, 2026, brought sudden and irreversible violence to the 4100 block of East 120th Street in Cleveland's Union-Miles neighborhood. At around 6 p.m., residents heard gunfire, and calls were made to the Cleveland Division of Police. Officers arrived to find a grim scene spanning a street and a front porch. In the street, they located 34-year-old Christopher Williams, who was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Police rendered first aid until emergency medical services arrived and rushed him to University Hospitals, where he was pronounced dead. On the front porch of a nearby home, officers found Demetrius Pride. He had also been shot, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The police investigation began immediately. Detectives from the Cleveland Division of Police leveraged the city's Real Time Crime Center and a network of Automated License Plate Readers to identify and track a suspect vehicle leaving the area. The technology proved effective, allowing investigators to trace the car to the nearby city of Akron. Within hours of the double homicide, law enforcement closed in. With the assistance of the Akron Police Department and Summit County Sheriff's deputies, a suspect was arrested without incident.
The man taken into custody was identified as 25-year-old Fedrico Belton. He was charged in Cleveland Municipal Court with two counts of aggravated murder in connection with the deaths of Demetrius Pride and Christopher Williams. Authorities have not publicly released a motive for the shooting or detailed the circumstances that led to the fatal confrontation. The incident was unsettling for neighbors, one of whom was working on a home renovation project nearby and had just left minutes before the shooting. He expressed his shock, noting that while the neighborhood wasn't perfect, the deadly violence was surprising.
The case against Fedrico Belton is now moving through the Ohio court system. He is being held on a significant bond while awaiting further legal proceedings. The investigation by the Cleveland police remains active as they continue to piece together the events of that evening. The deaths of Demetrius and Christopher were part of a violent weekend in Cleveland that saw another man killed in a separate shooting, sparking concern and sorrow among city residents.
As the legal process unfolds, a community is left to mourn the loss of two men. No public vigils or memorial fundraisers for Demetrius Pride have been publicly announced. The questions of what happened on that porch and in the street on East 120th Street, and why it happened, remain at the center of an ongoing investigation, leaving friends, family, and a neighborhood to grapple with the devastating consequences of gun violence.
