CINCINNATI -- A teenage girl laid a bouquet of white roses at the base of "The Genius of Water” before the sun rose on Fountain Square Friday morning. She said it was her way of honoring the three people who lost their lives when a gunman sprayed bullets at bystanders at the Fifth Third Center a day earlier.
Mayor John Cranley said police officers' body camera footage from the shooting, which occurred at about 9 a.m. Thursday, shows first responders “literally running into a gun fight.” Police officers shot and killed the gunman, 29-year-old Omar Santa-Perez.
“We will get through this,” Cranley said. “We will also remember the bravery of our police officers. Later today, you’ll see the body camera of the officers who responded and removed the threat. It is frightening and harrowing video."
Several more bouquets of flowers now surround @MyFountainSqr. A few people stopping by to pay their respects to those killed in the Fifth Third Center shooting. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/y5itzbEHgy
— Ally Kraemer (@AllyKraemer) September 7, 2018
Four people, including the gunman, died in a matter of minutes. A witness said Santa-Perez strode into the lobby around 9 a.m. and opened fire on innocent people with a 9 mm handgun before responding officers shot and killed him.
The shooting was the first to happen Downtown in 2018.
No police officers were injured. The two people who were shot were transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. One of the victims is still in critical condition.
Cranley said he has not seen surveillance video from inside the Fifth Third Center, but someone described to him as “grotesque.”
A vigil is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Friday on Fountain Square in honor of the victims.
