Anti-violence march marred by 2 shootings

Editor's note: The images within this story of the latest shooting in Cincinnati are graphic. This is the unfortunate and raw reality that is facing our city at this time. Gun violence and senseless shootings are becoming commonplace. The shooting, less than a block from an anti-violence march, left one man dead. This on the heels of Friday's slaying of a Cincinnati police officer. Our community needs to find ways to stop this needless violence.

OVER-THE-RHINE – A march aiming to stop violence in Cincinnati nearly collided with a fatal gunfight Monday night.

As Bishop Bobby Hilton and about 100 men turned a corner in Over-the-Rhine near Findlay Market, three men began shooting at Findlay Playground. When one of the men was hit, he ran from the park and collapsed on Race Street – about half a block from the march's leaders, Cincinnati police spokeswoman Lt. Danita Pettis said.

Police have identified the deceased as 18-year-old Justin Crutchfield.

The shooting comes a day after it was announced that Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell's plan to reduce crime in the city would be postponed due to the Friday slaying of Officer Sonny Kim in Madisonville.

Crutchfield was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he later died, police said.

State Sen. Cecil Thomas, a former Cincinnati police officer and city councilman, was in the march and speaking to community members about turning things around when the shots rang out. He immediately ran to the teen.

"The first thing was to try to administer some form of aid to him by talking to him, making sure he didn't move, and trying to figure out where he was shot," Thomas said. "There was a lot of blood coming from the side of his body.

"I walked these streets," Thomas said. "The majority of the folks down here don't want to be in this kind of situation, but there are a handful that we need to root out of here and that's what law enforcement's role should be."

The march was announced at a vigil for the victims of last week's shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, which took the lives of nine people in the Emanuel AME church.

"We're here on a rescue mission," Hilton said to open the march. "I believe the main problem with people picking up guns and shooting each other is hopelessness. We came down here to let them know, you are important."

"I hope we can find somebody else that feels like they're at the end of their rope and say you can make it," Hilton said.

"We're here to bring hope and change," a man with a bullhorn said as they headed south on Race Street. "Stop the shooting, stop the murders, stop the killing."

"Let's put our hands and our voices together and speak out against violence," he declared.

As the group turned onto Central Parkway, community members lined up on the street watching the march began shouting to the group, pointing them toward the shooting.

Several men ran back up the street to Crutchfield as he lay in the street, but the majority of the marchers continued down the street for safety.

As the homicide scene was being investigated, several officers were called away to another shooting less than a mile away.

A police cruiser left the scene so quickly it snagged the police tape it was passing under and carried it all the way to the other scene on Livingston Street.

A male in his 20s was shot in the thigh around 7:30 p.m. during a robbery, police said.

"We have no reason to believe they were connected," Pettis said of the two shootings.

The man was transported to University of Cincinnati Medical Center. His condition was not disclosed.

Police are searching for two male suspects in connection with the Livingston Street shooting and two male suspects in connection with the Race Street shooting. No arrests have been reported.

"It's a very frustrating experience," Pettis said after the second shooting. "We feel like as soon as we begin to gain some ground, then something else happens to take us back in the opposite direction.

"However, we're going to keep plugging along, keep moving forward trying to initiate the new plan once we bury our colleague, Officer Kim," she said. "Then we'll get back on track – getting these individuals identified that are pretty much wreaking havoc in the rest of the community."

After the ambulances had pulled away from both scenes, Hilton's group continued to pray in front of a church at the corner of Liberty and Vine streets.