CINCINNATI — Following two fatal shootings in less than 24 hours, Cincinnati community members gathered to march in protest of gun violence in Cincinnati.
While the event was planned well before these separate shootings claimed the lives of two people and injured a third, the recent events certainly reinforced the reason so many came together to march across the 8th Street viaduct Sunday afternoon.
Cincinnati Police officers, neighbors and community leaders all gathered to stand up against gun violence after a particularly bloody summer this year.
"We're united standing against violence," said Mitchell Morris Jr., a Cincinnati Works street advocate and an organizer of Sunday's rally. "People say that you can't change things, you can't stop it. Well, no one person can do it alone. We don't have superpowers. But, if we unite, there's nothing that we cannot accomplish together."
The group began with a rally before marching along the viaduct. Cincinnati Works street advocates organized the event, feeling fed up with ongoing gun violence.
Cincinnati Police officers attended to show support for the community, and they said the department needs the kind of interest and activism this event inspires in order to address the violence.
"We could solve a lot more if the community came to us with information," said Captain Paul Broxterman, district 3 commander with the Cincinnati Police Department. "Because a lot of these, we know who shot these people but we need community members to step forward."
He said the biggest challenge Cincinnati police have in solving homicides is people who may know something not coming forward with information.
"We need people to come out," agreed Margaret Daniels, who attended the march. She said her grandson was murdered in 2012. "See something, say something."
