Wednesday’s shooting in Over-the-Rhine that injured 4, including two teens and a 10-year-old, marks the 9th shooting in or near Grant Park since 2020, according to Cincy Insights.
That Cincy Insights data shows there have been 22 victims in those shootings, including 9 from the same mass shooting in 2020.
“It ain't been this bad,” said Asa Sanders, who works across the street from the park. “It's worse now. It ain’t never been nothing like that.”
Sanders sits on the Wesley Chapel Mission Center Youth Board, which provides kids and teens a voice on issues impacting the neighborhood.
The center is just steps away from where the drive-by shooting took place Wednesday. Sanders was a few streets away when it happened.
“It sounded like fireworks,” he said. “But I knew it wasn't no fireworks.”
Zion Baker is the president of the youth board.
“I was scared and mad,” Baker said. “Because my siblings live in this area, not even too far from where the shooting happened.”
Grant Park Block Watch Captain John Donaldson said the park sits in the middle of several problem spots. Donaldson says some of those spots have been cleaned up, but others are still well-known for drug dealing and drug use.
“We need enforcement in our troubled areas,” he said. “We're right in the middle of all that stuff.”
Donaldson said he wants to see more city cameras in the area too. Right now, he said the area relies heavily on private cameras for security.
“We've blanketed the area with private cameras,” he said. “We have roughly 70 private cameras in the one-block radius.”
Both Donaldson and the Urban League’s Dorron Hunter said the shootings are being carried out by a small number of people.
The Urban League is hosting an event in the park on Friday, along with the Wesley Chapel Mission Center, to bring attention to career resources and youth programs.
“We just try to make sure that they have every opportunity they need to be successful in life,” Hunter said. “Everybody needs a second chance”
Hunter said he believes that if community organizations continue to be consistent with offering opportunities, it will encourage people to make good choices.
Grant Park Resource Day is taking place Friday at Grant Park between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. There will be resources for employment, child care and mental health services. The Wesley Chapel Mission Center will be on site to kickoff its summer program.
The youth board remains hard at work too.
“I feel like it'd be better for teens and kids to do it because adults, they say it all the time,” Baker said. “Even though they talk about it, I feel like it's not as heard as it would be with kids.”
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