CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Police homicide detectives arrested a man Monday afternoon in connection to a shooting in Spring Grove Village left two dead early Saturday morning.
District 5 officers responded to the 4700 block of Winton Road to investigate reports of a shooting around 7:00 a.m. Saturday. Responders found two victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Both were transported to UC Medical Center, where they died from their injuries.
Police identified the victims as 33-year-old Jeffrey Duke II, who was shot in his car alongside 29-year-old Jasmine Malone.
Ladonna Hoyte told WCPO 9 News that she will never forget hearing the news about her baby brother from their mother Jeannette Duke.
"She told me to come to her home because someone had murdered Jeffrey and I really couldn’t believe that I was hearing what I heard," she said. "I just screamed. I didn’t even know what to do.”
His father, Jeffrey Duke I, said he would give the shirt off his back if asked, and that he "never allowed anyone that he loved to want for anything.”
Which is what makes the motive behind this beloved son, brother and uncle's death a mystery.
“Jeffrey was a good person and he had a promising future," Jeannette Duke said.
“This incident put a large hole in the lives of all of us," Jeffrey Duke I said. "It’s huge."
With assistance from the Fugitive Apprehension Squad, Cincinnati police arrested 27-year-old Dwayne Harris Monday afternoon and charged him with both murders. Police do not believe Duke and Malone's deaths are connected to two other double homicides in recent days.
Duke's family said they are grateful police were able to make an arrest so quickly.
“It still hurts. It still hurts us, but it was just a huge weight just lifted off of us," Hoyte said.
Harris is currently being held in the Hamilton County Jail and is set to be arraigned Tuesday morning.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the CPD Criminal Investigation Section at (513) 352-3542.
