“Just in a 72-hour period from Saturday morning through Monday evening there were five shooting incidents with 16 people shot, two deceased and one still fighting for their life — an 18-year-old male,” said Dayton police Lt. Col. Eric Henderson, deputy director and assistant chief of the police department. “Just this year alone we’ve had 15 homicides in the city, which is way too many.”
And the violence continued on Wednesday morning when a 15-year-old boy was injured in a shooting at the Park Manor apartment complex in southeast Dayton.
Violent crimes involving firearms have increased this year in Dayton after also climbing last year, says police data.
Summer trouble
Mayor Jeffrey Mims Jr., Lt. Col. Henderson and Deputy City Manager Joe Parlette spoke at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to condemn the recent outbreak of violent shootings.
Mims said he is angry, disappointed and saddened by the incidents.
The mayor said the city intends to develop and implement a community violence prevention pilot program.
Mims said national research has shown that community violence prevention programs are very helpful at reducing and minimizing gun violence. He said the goal is to find a unique model that is right for Dayton.
Mims said these kinds of programs aren’t cheap, but he believes the city can find the funding to pay for one.
Violence prevention programs like Aim4Peace in Kansas City, Missouri, use a public health approach to reduce shooting and violence.
The program focuses on neighborhood factors that often contribute to violence while also trying to help out and support people who are at the highest risk of committing offenses due to their living or employment situations.
Mims said the city wants to partner with the schools and community groups to try to give young people the tools they need to resolve conflict in safe and healthy ways.
Lt. Col. Henderson said gun violence usually involves people who know each other — not strangers. He said these incidents typically are not random acts of violence.
Henderson said the city has seen double-digit percentage declines in property crimes since the early 2000s. But he said Dayton continues to see the same levels of violence even though the city’s population has decreased over that time period.
“This is unacceptable and we have to have folks step up to assist,” he said.
The numbers
Dayton had about 425 incidents of part 1 violent gun crime in 2023, which was up about 11% from 2022, according to preliminary police data this newspaper obtained earlier this year.
Through June 25, Dayton police have recorded 255 violent crimes involving firearms, which is up from 223 incidents during the same time in 2023 and 184 in 2022, police data show.
Dayton recorded about 500 part 1 violent gun crimes in 2019 and 537 in 2020 but they declined 25% in 2021 and 5% in 2022.
Dayton had about 25 firearm-related homicides last year, after recording 27 in 2022 and 25 in 2021.
There have been about 13 firearm-related homicides this year, compared to 14 during the same period in 2023 and 17 in 2022.
Deputy City Manager Parlette said police need community members to step up and share any information they have about serious crimes that take place in the city.
He said reporting shootings into habitations and other criminal activities can provide police with ballistic information and other evidence that can help connect crimes and identify suspects and violent offenders.
6 incidents, 15 injured, 2 dead
On Monday, 13 people were shot, including an 11-year-old boy, in three separate shootings in Dayton that resulted in two deaths.
At about 12:50 a.m., Dayton police were dispatched to multiple locations after a shooting was reported near South Euclid and Home avenues in West Dayton.
A 22-year-old woman, Donna Zile, died and six other people were shot and wounded, including an 18-year-old man with life-threatening injuries, police said.
Police officials said it was a drive-by shooting that apparently involved multiple vehicles and multiple weapons.
Police said the shooting was associated with a large party outside of an unoccupied house that was attended by juveniles and young adults.
On Monday evening, shortly before 6:55 p.m., police officers were dispatched to the 4900 block of Genesee Avenue for multiple people injured by gunfire as a result of a domestic situation, said Lt. Steven Bauer of the Dayton Police Department.
An 11-year-old boy and a 35-year-old woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to the hospital, police said.
Another gunshot victim, a 36-year-old woman, drove herself to a local hospital.
The suspected shooter was a 45-year-old man who was the husband of one of the women who were shot. He also was injured by gunfire and he died at the hospital. His name has not yet been released.
Another shooting happened at about 10:25 a.m. Monday in the 1700 block of West Fifth Street near the James H. McGee Boulevard intersection.
A 33-year-old man was injured by gunfire when a 46-year-old male suspect allegedly tried to steal his truck on the 1700 block of West Fifth Street. The men shot each other and both ended up at the hospital.
A woman was shot in the chest early morning on Saturday, June 22, near the 5000 block of Norris Drive in Dayton. Police say the suspect was the same person who tried to steal the truck on West Fifth Street.
On Wednesday morning, a 15-year-old boy was injured in a shooting at the Park Manor apartment complex in the Oregon District.
Staff writer Jen Balduf contributed to this story.
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