'I miss him so much': Aunt remembers 18-year-old shot and killed outside alma mater hours after graduation

CINCINNATI — Hours after getting his diploma from Withrow High School, 18-year-old Lamon Wiggins was shot and killed outside his alma mater while he and his classmates celebrated their graduation.

"Lamon wasn't even the target," his aunt Mariah Lanier said. "Lamon was just caught in the crossfire. I want them to find out who did this."

Lanier helped raise Wiggins, describing herself as a second mother to him after she helped provide for her nephew when he moved from Georgia to Cincinnati during the pandemic — before his mother arrived. She said she also took care of him during many summers.

"At 14, he came to me he said, 'Auntie let's put in an application. I want to work.' I said, 'You can't work yet, you got one more year,'" Lanier said.

She said her nephew was all smiles on his graduation night, excited about the future and achieving his goal of taking care of the people he loved. She could have never imagined a graduation party at his alma mater would be where he spent the last hours of his life.

"He said, 'I love you auntie and I'll see you when you get in here,'" Lanier said, remembering the last words she heard Wiggins say to her Friday night. "I miss him, I miss him so much."

Mayor Aftab Pureval spoke about Wiggins as he and top city leaders on Tuesday announced a plan to address gun violence among young people in the city. The goal is to add more youth programs throughout the city and place police officers in areas that are considered areas with increased violent crime.

"If we take our traffic enforcement areas, lay it over our violent crime area locations, it's an opportunity for us to get a little bit more bang for our buck," Police Chief Teresa Theetge said while discussing the plan."Put traffic officers in there to do traffic enforcement and they're also looked at as a deterrent for somebody who may be thinking about committing a violent crime."

Theetge also mentioned the progress the city has made on curbing gun violence involving youth. City statistics show from 2023 to 2024, year to date, the number of youth gun victims dropped 50% from 24 to 12.

Citywide, there were 116 total shooting victims at this time last year compared to 110 this year. In 2022 there were 129, and 2021 had 127. That's a decrease of 11.3% on average over a three-year period.

"But what that tells us is we have to keep our foot on the gas pedal," Theetge said.

Cincinnati police also had a presentation showing the "hot spots" or the frequent areas of violent crime. Through research, CPD said 4% of this summer's focus area makes up 22-30% of violent activity, 33.5% of shooting victims and 12.5% of the reported stolen guns. Its data also shows year to date, there were 211 guns stolen in 2023, compared to 145 this year.

The other part of the plan is adding more youth summer programs. City leaders announced all 24 city pools will be open this summer for the first time since before the pandemic. Both Hirsch and Lincoln Recreation Centers will extend hours on Saturdays until 11 p.m. starting June 8.

"Especially in the summer months when school is out, we need programming, we need things for the youth to do," said Theetge.

"Outdoor pools and community centers offer a place for youth adults and seniors to be in a safe space," said Daniel Betts, director of Cincinnati Recreation Commission.

CPD 2024 Summer Safety presentation by webeditors on Scribd

Some also preached personal accountability as summer approaches.

"Doing nothing is a choice," community activist Iris Roley said. "All of us should be gearing up to see how we can be a part of this shared language and becoming problem solvers. It doesn't take a lot it just takes the ability to be present."

They also stressed solving gun violence has to start at home. We asked Mayor Aftab Pureval what his message was to parents.

"Know where your kids are, know what they're up to. If you need help, please reach out to the city and we can provide you resources to the extent you're having challenging times at home the more that the city is aware of the challenges that our community is facing by clear communication, the more we can deploy and be helpful before frankly, we have to engage in law enforcement," said Pureval.

Lanier echoed that message.

"We got to let them understand that once they get out here it's real life — there's consequences and repercussions for your actions, you can't just do what you want to do there's rules for everything that you do in life," Lanier said. "It starts at home ... we can't depend on our teachers and the staff and other people outside to do what to do or want them to do for our kids if (we're) not doing it because it comes from the love from home first."

Theetge said officers are interviewing people who were at the graduation party outside of Withrow High School, but she didn't mention any arrests for the murder of Wiggins.

If you would like to help the Wiggins family, you can go here.