CINCINNATI -- Deondre Davis was one of 17 people struck by bullets during the Sunday morning shooting at Cameo Night Club. He survived -- only one man, O'Bryan Spikes, was killed -- but has remained in critical condition since authorities rushed him to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
His father, Jackie Davis, said he had been waiting overnight at the hospital for four days when police announced that Deondre -- non-responsive, lying still in a hospital bed and breathing only with the help of a ventilator -- was being charged with murder.
"We were so excited that they had someone," said Jackie Davis. "But to see my son's face come across (the TV screen) was devastating. Everybody's mind was blown."
Police then arrived to shepherd Davis and the rest of his family out of Deondre's hospital room, he said. They were allowed back inside only after Deondre's attorney, Carl Lewis, spoke to police.
Lewis acknowledged the seriousness of the charge and the wide-scale attention the Cameo shooting attracted, but maintained that Cincinnati police didn't have all of the information of the case yet.
"We want all the facts to come out," Lewis said. "Until all the facts come out, he's innocent until proven guilty."
Davis echoed his belief in his son's innocence.
"There is no way my son could do this," Davis said. "I don't believe he could do this."
Bishop Darin Miller, the pastor who ministered to Spikes' family at Word of Life Christian Fellowship, said the charges brought the dead man's loved ones closer to closure, but it's too early to accept any one answer as definitive.
"They are very happy that Chief Isaac is committed to this and that the mayor and all those are committed to this," he said. "They do understand that the investigation is still going on, so they don't want to be overexuberant."
A judge issued Cornell Beckley, the other man charged in the shooting, a $1.7 million bond -- $100,000 for each of the victims -- in court Friday. Deondre Davis will undergo additional surgery, his father said Thursday night.
