Springfield man dies in shooting

A former stand-out Springfield High School athlete was shot and killed Friday morning.

Clark County Coroner Richard Marsh pronounced George A. Walker Jr., 20, of Springfield, dead at 10:53 a.m. at Springfield Regional Medical Center.

“He was just a young man just trying to get his life together. When he finally gets his life together, this happened to him,” his father, George Walker, said.

He said his son had planned to leave Springfield on June 21 to play football for Georgia Military College.

“I was just so happy and proud of him. He realized there was nothing out in the streets for him,” George Walker said. “He said his mind was good. He could have made it to the league.”

George Walker Jr.’s 12-year-old brother, Bryce Walker, said he wants to play in the NFL like his brother planned.

“Now that George is gone, I’m going to fulfill his dreams,” he said.

The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office will perform an autopsy, Marsh said, and might have the results today.

The shooting was reported near Grand and Lowry avenues about 10:30 a.m. Friday.

The woman who called 9-1-1 said she was a family friend of George Walker Jr. and that he came up to her door bleeding and she called medics immediately.

As of Friday afternoon, Springfield Police Division investigations had no suspects.

Police Chief Stephen P. Moody urged any witnesses with information to come forward.

“It is essential someone with some moral courage steps up at this time. Remembering Jeffery Wellington, remembering this young man and the other victim’s in our community,” Moody said. “We’re only as good as the community permits us to be.”

George Walker Jr. was an idol to Jeff Wellington, 17, of Springfield, who was shot and killed Easter morning, according to Wellington’s mother, Lakisha Cole.

Cole said Wellington picked the number five for his football jersey because that was Walker’s number.

“Jeff really looked up to George because they were similar players on the way out of Springfield,” Cole said. “Just senseless acts.”

The shooting appears to be the fifth in Springfield this week. Four shootings occurred over the long holiday weekend. Police declined to say if the fatal shooting Friday morning was related to any of those incidents.

The first of the three shootings was reported on Sunday just before 2 p.m. when officers were dispatched to Davey Moore Park, 600 S. Western Ave. There they located a 30-year-old man who had been shot twice, according to a police report.

About 9:40 p.m. Sunday, officers went to the intersection of Linden and Euclid avenues and found a 23-year-old man had been shot in the leg, according to a police report. He was taken to Springfield Regional Medical Center for treatment.

Also, a Dayton man told police he was shot in Springfield around the same time Sunday night, according to a police report. Police were sent to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton to investigate a man who came there seeking treatment for a gunshot wound. The 23-year-old victim told police he was in Springfield when he was shot, according to the report.

Then about 8:15 p.m. Monday, police found an 18-year-old man shot next to a car on Lowry Avenue, according to a police report. He was treated and released from Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton.

Walker’s former football coach Conely Smoot called his and Wellington’s deaths senseless acts. Wellington looked up to George Walker, Smoot said.

“Somehow, someway we got to come together and stop this,” Smoot said.

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