The July 4th holiday weekend was anything but peaceful in many Ohio cities, with at least 26 separate reported incidents of gun violence, resulting in over 37 Ohioans injured and at least 12 killed. This horrific weekend of gun violence was not only in Ohio – Newsweek and numerous other media sources indicate an estimated 233 people were killed during the July 4th holiday weekend across the county and at least 600 others were injured. These are still considered preliminary numbers as the Gun Violence Archive continues to finalize data.
In Cleveland, 17 people were injured in gun violence since the start of the Independence Day weekend on July 2 – 11 of those people were shot in just one five-hour period.
Shortly after midnight Monday morning in Toledo, police were called to a holiday block party where 12 people were shot, including many children and teens, the youngest only 11 years old. A 17-year-old male victim died from his injuries.
In Akron, two people were killed in separate shootings Monday morning, and five more were injured in other shootings over the weekend.
Columbus reports indicate that five people were shot and killed from Friday through Monday, bringing the city’s number of homicides to 105 – it wasn’t until mid-September when that number was reached last year. In Newark, a city east of Columbus, at least 18 shots were fired at a group of adults and children in a drive-by shooting. Two of the children suffered minor injuries from broken glass.
Two teenage boys were shot and killed in a Cincinnati park on July 4 and three other teens were injured from the crossfire.
Three people were shot in Dayton over the weekend, two fatally. One of the fatalities was a 13-year-old girl – another innocent bystander.