CINCINNATI — Cincinnati officials are expressing outrage and horror over a drive-by shooting that sent more than two dozen bullets into a crowd of children, killing an 11-year-old boy and striking four other children and an adult.
The victims were near an intersection Friday evening when an occupant of a dark sedan fired 22 shots in quick succession, Police Chief Terri Theetge told reporters Sunday. The affected boys were aged 11, 12, 13 and 15; and a 15-year-old girl; and a 53-year-old woman. One victim remained hospitalized in stable condition.
Two of the children attended Cincinnati Preparatory Academy, including the boy who was killed. The other three attended Cincinnati public schools. One of the injured victims remains hospitalized in stable condition, while the others have been released.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, who called the shooting “sickening and unimaginable,” said children were playing outside when the shots rang out in the city’s West End. The stage is within walking distance of a daycare, a girls’ dance studio and a playground.
“Twenty-two shots were fired,” Pureval said. “Twenty-two rounds in an instant – in a crowd of kids. No time to respond. No time to react. »
Authorities have not released any information about a suspect nor have they said whether the shooting was targeted.
The shooting is the latest incident in a wave of gun violence sweeping across the country. As of Sunday evening, there have been 596 mass shootings in the United States this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. More than 1,200 teenagers (ages 12 to 17) were killed and 3,400 injured in 2023, records show. More than 250 children (aged 11 and under) were killed and nearly 570 injured.
“Such violence cannot be our status quo”
“This is not an act of God; This is not a natural disaster. The devastation, damage and loss of life are a shock to all of us, but they stem from the actions of real people and they (are) made possible by access to,” City Manager Sheryl Long told reporters, sometimes holding back tears, during a press conference Sunday afternoon.
“Violence like this cannot be our status quo,” Long said, adding that she has also lost family members to gun violence.
In response to Friday’s shooting, Cincinnati police intend to expand the presence of uniformed and non-uniformed officers in the West End in addition to the use of cameras, Theetge said.
A team of social workers are also stepping up to offer support to residents in the West End. Long said the city will also send staff to Hays-Porter Elementary School, Taft High School and Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy on Monday.
Before Friday’s shooting, two teenagers aged 16 and 14 were shot in the West End neighborhood. Thirty other adults have been shot there this year, according to Cincinnati police data. The neighborhood had already seen three homicides so far in 2023.
Long said the neighborhood has seen “disproportionately high” levels of gun violence, but the city’s efforts to combat violence there – including a months-long investigation into a concentrated area of crime at Livingston and John streets that led to the closing of a liquor store – led to some results.
A father’s plea for information
Given the rise in shootings involving teens in the city, police have begun specifically tracking child homicide statistics, Pureval said, citing access to guns and inappropriate conflict resolution as causes of this violence.
He said 40 percent of illegal guns on Cincinnati’s streets come from cars. City officials have repeatedly asked gun owners to lock up their firearms to prevent the weapons from being stolen and used in crimes.
“The tendency to immediately use deadly force, no matter how small, is overwhelming,” the mayor said. “The gun violence we see is no longer concentrated in one neighborhood or around drug trafficking. Due to the universal accessibility of guns, they are everywhere, especially among our children.
Although authorities have not yet identified the slain boy, Issac Davis, his father, asked anyone with information about the child’s death to come forward.
“When is this going to stop?” Will it ever stop? He asked. “Like how many people have to bury their children, their babies, their loved ones? »
The investigation by the Cincinnati Police Homicide Unit is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call investigators at 513-352-3542.
Contributor: Charles Ventura, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
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