CINCINNATI — Two teenagers were shot hours — and miles — apart on Sunday night in the city of Cincinnati, renewing concerns and calls for community engagement.
The first happened on Linn Street in the West End just after 4 p.m. Police said a 14-year-old was shot in the foot and driven to the hospital.
Hours later, police responded to Blair Avenue in Avondale for reports of a shooting and found another teenager shot in the foot. There were nearly a dozen evidence markers in the street as investigators cased the area.
The shooting was just outside Jennifer Foster's building. She nearly stepped on a shell casing returning from an evening handing out backpacks to needy kids in the neighborhood and a trip to the store. She said some of her neighbors didn't even know what had happened outside.
"It didn't register in their brain that it was gunfire, but that's part of that trauma," Foster said.
Foster, a former football player, was shot in the same block as Blair in 2013. She was an innocent bystander, sitting outside her building. Since then, she has dedicated her time to working in her community to make things safer and life better. She joined the Avondale Community Council to represent renters in the neighborhood.
She was out Monday at a pop-up Last Mile Food Rescue produce tent, giving groceries to neighbors in need blocks from where a 17-year-old was shot earlier this summer on Reading Road.
"In all reality, you're destroying a village," she said. "These babies are not just destroying their life, (but) their whole family."
Volunteering with her at the tent were members of the Avondale Youth Council, kids she's helping mentor and support.
"They don't know they're dealing with so much trauma and I think the key component is, they have so much trauma inside of them that they don't know how to let it out in a positive way," she said.
Back on Blair Avenue, Jamila Greene was walking back from a store with her young son. She hadn't heard about the Sunday shooting but knows the challenges of talking about violence with kids. She talks about it with her 9-year-old regularly.
"I tell my children, 'If you see something, you've got to say something. Speak up. Do the right thing. It's not about how you're perceived or how you're going to be looked at,'" Greene said. "They can call you a snitch all day, but it's about doing what's right."
Both women said they hoped a return to class for the new Cincinnati Public Schools school year would provide a safe, calm space for kids in troubling situations or feeling lost, but agreed that safety started with conversations and support at home.
"You have to make that decision to be apart from your environment, to be better than your environment, better than your experiences, you have to make that decision," Greene said. "All I can do is try to raise great people."
Both teens shot on Sunday were expected to be physically okay. Police had not released any suspect information in either shooting on Monday evening.
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