The Cincinnati and Hamilton police departments have their work cut out for them after at least seven shootings killed four people over the steamy weekend of July 22 to 24 -- and not one arrest in each case was made.
One man was killed Saturday afternoon in the West End during a day that saw three people killed and several others injured in shootings across the city, police said.
The West End shooting occurred in the 1600 block of Lockhurst Lane following an altercation shortly before 3 p.m. Saturday, Lt Steve Saunders said. Police identified the victim as 18-year-old Sh-ar Dornal.
Earlier that day, two men were killed and two other victims were injured in a shooting at a nightclub or after-hours business on Beekman Street at about 4 a.m., police said.
Following the West End shooting Saturday afternoon, there were also shootings in the 800 block of Lexington Avenue in Avondale and at McMicken and Vine streets in Over-the-Rhine. Police said the victim in the Avondale shooting was undergoing surgery. More details weren't immediately available.
Another shooting was reported in East Price Hill, but police said they could not find a victim at the scene.
Sunday morning, another man died in a shooting at a Hamilton nightclub, and at last check, police still weren't even sure how many people had even been shot there. Two victims in their teens or early 20s were also shot at about 1 a.m. Sunday near the University of Cincinnati.
Police at all of these scenes say one of the biggest problems is the lack of help they're getting from witnesses. If you have any information in any of these shootings, police ask that you call Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040.
"We need to absolutely have cooperation from the community," Saunders said. "The police cannot do it alone. We have to have help from people who live in this area who may have seen something or heard something. It's imperative."
Dorron Hunter with the Cincinnati Human Relations Committee said the whole community needs to help stop the violence.
"These are the things that we're trying to prevent," Hunter said. "We're losing our young people each and every day, and that's hard to watch."
Crime so far this year has been on the decline.
As of July 16, the number of Cincinnati shooting victims in 2016 dropped 13 percent compared to last year, according to the Cincinnati Police Department's Strategic and Tactical Analytic Review for Solutions report. The number of homicides compared to last year dropped 17 percent, according to that same report.
