CINCINNATI — Shootings and violent crime in Over-the-Rhine has been on a steady decline for the last several years, despite concerns after a shootout between two people left nine injured early Sunday morning, according to data from the Cincinnati Police Department.
Shootings happened less frequently each year in OTR since 2009, when the neighborhood saw 71 separate shootings — the most the neighborhood has seen since that year.
"Shootings," in Cincinnati police's data means a person was struck by a bullet — it does not include reports of gunfire during which no one was reported injured.
As of August 8, there have been 15 shooting incidents in OTR in 2022 — and 194 in all of the city. This year so far, only 7% of shootings within the city of Cincinnati have been in OTR, while 93% have happened elsewhere in the city. At its highest point, in 2009, OTR made up 19% of the city's shootings.
OTR does still have the third-most shootings in Cincinnati in 2022; Avondale has had 23 shootings this year while the West End has seen 21.
In 2021, it was the second-highest neighborhood, with a total of 34 shootings, falling just below the West End, which saw 36.
OTR has had four mass shootings since August 2008, tying Avondale for the neighborhood with the most reported incidents in which four or more victims were shot. The FBI defines a "mass shooting" as any shooting in which four or more people are injured by bullets.
In total, 174 people have been wounded or killed in mass shootings in Cincinnati since 2008. Of those, 27 people have been shot in mass shootings in OTR — nine of those victims were shot on Main Street on Sunday morning. That means roughly 15.5% of people hurt or killed in mass shootings in Cincinnati were in OTR when they were shot.
Since 2010, violent crime — defined by CPD as robberies, aggravated robberies, felonious assaults and reported assaults — have, on average, declined year over year in OTR. This data does not include shootings, which are categorized separately.
In a breakdown of street to street, Main Street — where Sunday morning's mass shooting occurred — has seen the most violent crime in OTR since 2020, with 26 reported incidents. Vine Street is not far behind, with 24 reported incidents of violent crime. East McMicken Avenue has had 21 reported incidents since 2020.
