An 11-year-old boy killed in a weekend shooting in Cincinnati was identified Monday by the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office as Dominic Davis.
Police Chief Terri Theetge told reporters Sunday that a shooter in a sedan fired 22 rounds “in quick succession” into a crowd of children just before 9:30 p.m. Friday on the city’s West End. No suspect has been arrested.
A 53-year-old woman was hit along with the boy who died; three other boys aged 12, 13 and 15; and a 15-year-old girl. One victim was hospitalized in stable condition.
A memorial where Dominic and the other children were shot lines the sidewalk with pictures, stuffed animals and dozens of colorful balloons. A GoFundMe page helped raise money for funeral costs.
Theetge said it was too early to say whether the shooting was random or targeted and declined to discuss other aspects of the investigation.
The shots were fired in a “vibrant neighborhood” next to a park and near a historic elementary school, Mayor Aftab Pureval said at the news conference.
Dominic Davis’ father, Issac Davis, appeared at the Sunday news conference along with Dominic’s mother and grandmother to urge whoever was responsible to turn themselves in.
“When will this stop? Will this ever stop?” Issac Davis asked. ”How many people have to bury their kids, their babies, their loved ones?”
Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence protection group, said it counted nearly 300 shootings this year in Cincinnati, including some 30 in the neighborhood where Dominic Davis was killed three days ago.
“No family should be forced to wonder how they will make it through. No child should be gunned down. No family should be shattered because of senseless gun violence,” said Pastor Jackie L. Jackson, a Cincinnati resident and program manager of the Everytown Survivor Network. “At some point, for the sake of our children, families, communities, and our country, we must do more to keep them safe.”
Pureval called it “a horrific tragedy.”
“Our friends and neighbors are feeling unimaginable fear, trauma, and anger,” Pureval said and vowed to “give everything we have to deliver justice against this sickening, heartless violence.”
Pureval also said that the West End neighborhood is suffering “unimaginable trauma” and that residents are wary of leaving their homes.
“The parents, and the kids themselves we talked to, don’t feel safe, and I frankly can’t blame them,” he said.
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This story has been corrected to say the slain child’s father is Issac Davis, not Isaac Davis.
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Samantha Hendrickson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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