CINCINNATI -- One person was shot and killed Tuesday night in the city's Westwood neighborhood. The shooting happened in an apartment complex parking lot on the 2600 block of Montana Avenue at about 10:30 p.m.
Capt. Russ Neville confirmed Malone Amason, 27, had died. No other information was immediately available on the victim, his killer or what led up to the shooting, Neville said.
Aaron Pullins is a community outreach advocate with the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission for police district three. He was just leaving a meeting about reducing gun violence when the shooting took place.
"We're not going to accept it," Pullins said. "We're going to continue to try and stay together and put our resources together, and hopefully we can come together as a community and as a city and make some real attempt to reduce violence in our communities."
A ceasefire vigil coordinated by the Phoenix program is scheduled at 5 p.m. Wednesday on Bracken Woods Lane.
Westwood saw the largest increase in shootings last year, going from 15 shootings in 2014 to 46 in 2015. Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac has pinpointed a reduction in gun violence as his primary goal moving into 2016, particularly in neighborhoods like Westwood.
A report on violent crime released last week shows the problem is not isolated to Westwood, though: Citywide, Cincinnati saw 492 shooting incidents in 2015, up from 383 the year prior. That’s nearly a 30 percent jump. Of 2015’s 492 shootings, 71 — roughly 14 percent — were homicides.
Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley, City Manager Harry Black and Isaac organized a series of town-hall meetings on violent crime in the city; the next is scheduled for Monday night at Westwood Town Hall, a mile west on Montana Avenue from Tuesday night's shooting scene.
WCPO will update this story as more information becomes available.
