CINCINNATI — An hours-long SWAT standoff ended with police raiding a College Hill home, finding three people dead from stab wounds and the suspected attacker seriously injured from apparent self-inflicted wounds.
The suspect, 66-year-old Anthony Mathis, later died at the hospital.
Police identified the victims as 11-year-old Kaydence McCollum, 32-year-old DJ McCollum and 78-year-old Patricia McCollum.
Rosemary Oglesby-Henry, founder and CEO of Rosemary's Babies Co., said she couldn't believe the news that Patricia was dead.
"Ms. Patricia McCollum, but everyone called her Ms. Pat, is an icon," Oglesby-Henry said. "She's a hero. She's an advocate for foster children, those with disabilities, teen moms like the ones we serve."
Oglesby-Henry said she'd known Ms. Pat since she was 6 years old and said she'd been a friend and mentor when Oglesby-Henry became a teen mom herself.
When the nonprofit began expanding to a new location, the Holloway House, Oglesby-Henry named a room after Ms. Pat.
"To leave a powerful legacy for these kids to be able to understand that, no matter what the barrier is, you knock that barrier down. Pat McCollum was for her people, and her people was everybody," she said.
Oglesby-Henry said McCollum had fostered around 200 children over the years and adopted others — including DJ McCollum, who was also killed in the attack.
Ms. Pat adopted DJ, who had over 85% of his body burned when he was just a baby, after fostering him for just 13 days.
"I fell in love in the 13 days and couldn't give him up," Patricia told WCPO in a 2015 interview, which you can watch below.
Oglesby-Henry called Patricia a "fireball" who was fun, loved to dance and would "tell you how it was."
"She was hard on you because she knew, and expected you to be great, and her being hard on you and tough on you and honest on you at every level was all because she wanted you to do remarkable things," Oglesby-Henry said.
She said the people she touched would remember her and carry on her legacy of helping children in need.
"She'll only be remembered if we remember her for the positive great things that she did, the extraordinary person that she was, and if we continue to speak her name: Pat McCollum, for the people," said Oglesby-Henry.
On Friday, the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners took to social media, calling her death "a loss for all of Hamilton County."
"Few people live as invested in their community as Pat did," reads the statement.
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