Henry Molski

hmolski@enquirer.com

A day after the fatal shooting of a 5-year-old boy in Mt. Auburn, neighbors are wondering what led to the death as authorities say it appears to be an accident.

Daniel Redmond-Hamilton died Sunday afternoon after he was shot multiple times in his upper body inside an apartment on Kinsey Avenue, police say.

"It appears that this was an accident," Cincinnati police spokeswoman Tiffaney Hardy said on Monday.

Daniel's father and a friend brought him to University of Cincinnati Medical Center just after 2 p.m., Hardy said.

James Heppeard has lived on Highland Avenue, two doors south of where the incident occurred, for 12 years.

"I really don't know what happened," said Heppeard. "You never see this kind of thing coming. You don't want to see it happen and you don't wish it on anyone.

"But I make sure we know who (my children's) friends are. There are some dicey parts of this neighborhood we try to keep our kids from."

Heppeard is a father of four and says that he is "proactive" when he sees crime in the area of his home.

"There's criminal elements around here," Heppeard said. "But there's good families, too."

Many residents stuck their heads out from narrowly ajar doors in confusion on Monday afternoon. Most said that they didn't know the residents in 229 Kinsey Ave. Some recalled seeing a group of the child's friends on Halloween.

No one can quite understand how something like this could happen.

Mike Zuleger isn't from the area, but is a part of the crew working on the Anna Louise Inn Drop-in Center construction site just east of the accident scene.

"I can't speak for Sunday's accident, but on Friday night or early Saturday morning, we had someone kick in doors at our site and cause some damage," Zuleger said. "It's really quiet around here during the day."

Several people are currently being interviewed about the shooting, but nobody is in custody, Hardy said.

"This is a good chance to remind parents at home to keep weapons and dangerous items out of the reach of children," said Hardy. "The investigation is continuing. Part of the investigation has been pretty cooperative."