CINCINNATI — Community members in the West End gathered Wednesday to discuss ways to end gun violence less than one week after 11-year-old Dominic Davis was shot and killed in a mass shooting that injured five others.
Davis' mother attended the meeting along with other members of the child's family.
"This shouldn't be a norm for us — this shouldn't be something that we should allow to keep happening without coming up with solutions to stop it," said Loretta Davis, cousin of Dominic Davis.
While the city hosts PIVOT meetings every two weeks to discuss violent crime, this specific meeting focused on the significant rise in gun violence in the West End in the last four years.
According to Cincy Insights, the West End has accounted for 8.3% of this year's shootings in Cincinnati. Of the 28 shootings that have taken place in the West End this year, two have involved children.
At Lincoln Rec Center for the city’s PIVOT meeting going over latest crime stats 5 days after Dominic Davis was killed in a drive by shooting. His family his here as well as Chief Theetge & other city officials. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/MV1g7rGvOZ
— Bret Buganski (@Bret_Buganski) November 8, 2023
Loretta Davis said that though her family is going through one of the most difficult times of their lives, she wanted to be at the meeting to find real solutions to the ongoing problem.
"Coming up with solutions in those areas for the youth, and not only for the youth, but for the parents, giving them some resources as well, whether it's mental health, whether it's classes to get their education, higher education, to get their GEDs, get their high school diplomas, to have the resources in those areas," Davis said.
During Wednesday's meeting, breakout groups wrote down what they thought were the root causes of gun violence, as well as problem areas and safe areas of the city.
"What we're lacking is responsible adults that can get their kids to the centers," said Kevin Corley, Wesley Chapel Mission Center.
Corley is offering a safe space for kids to be themselves throughout the year.
"We don't value the centers and the places, but we always want to say we need to do something else. We don't need to do something else, we need to fix what we're already doing and just act upon that," Corley said.
For Davis, that's a winning strategy.
"You got coaches that have to coach the team so they will win," Davis said. "Let us get a group of parents and advocates in the neighborhood that are going to be just like coaches, so our kids can win. So we can coach our children to live. So we can coach them how to play together without losing."
Cincinnati Police Sgt. Timothy Epstein also discussed how guns are getting into the wrong hands.
"They're typically through theft ... or they're unauthorized users," Epstein said. "You have a gun in your house, you got a kid, and it's not secure, I guarantee you that kid knows where that gun is stored."
Epstein stressed the importance of owning a gun lock, which CPD offers for free.
"To have somebody, a child playing outside of their home, should the parents really have to be really watching over them every minute, every day? I don't think so," Chief Teresa Theetge said.
Meeting organizers said it's important to keep everyone engaged. That's why they're counting on more people to attend these meetings. The next PIVOT meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 10:30 a.m. at the Lincoln Recreational Center.
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