Two ‘Mass Shootings’ In Cincinnati, 17 Shot And 4 Dead, All Within 90 Minutes

CINCINNATI, OHIO — The City of Cincinnati is giving Chicago a run for it’s money after a bloody and deadly weekend. On Saturday, three separate shootings accounted for at least 17 people shot and 4 killed.

• Officers said they responded to a shooting in the area of 70 E. McMicken Ave. in Over-the-Rhine and found several people with gunshot wounds including one dead. Just before noon Sunday, police identified two of the dead from the McMicken Avenue shooting as Robert Rogers, 34, and Jaquiez Grant, 30.  “We do believe with this singular incident we have 10 individuals (who) were shot and a possible two fatal,” Assistant Police Chief Paul Neudigate said.
• The second shooting at Gilbert and Lincoln Avenues in Walnut Hills took place around 4 a.m. Three people were shot.
• The third shooting happened on Chalfonte Place in Avondale, where four people were shot. Police confirmed that at least one died: Antonio Blair, 21. Neudigate said two people are potentially dead as a result of this shooting.

Apparently gang violence, the Mayor is saying enough is enough, and calling on citizens to rally together to demand change. While two of the shootings line up with certain definitions of a mass shooting, I find it hard to couple them into the category if they’re gang related. If they are indeed gang related, it’s much different than a person walking into a shopping mall or school and shooting people at random.

“This amount of gun violence and the damage this has inflicted on neighborhoods is unacceptable,” Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot K. Isaac said in a statement.

“I am calling on all citizens of this great city to say enough is enough,” he said. “We must not sit by silently and say we can’t do anything to end gun violence.  We all have a moral obligation to stop the violence and stop the killing in our communities.”

One thing to help stop these shootings: More armed citizens. The problem, though, is that these events are happening late at night and are gang-related, both of which are typically avoided by law-abiding citizens.

Police are working to identify the people responsible for the shootings.