Five people dead, three hurt in Northern Kentucky mass shooting early Saturday
A mass shooting in Northern Kentucky early Saturday left four people dead, in addition to the shooter, and several others injured.
Boone County Coroner Missy Rittinger said the shooting happened at about 3 a.m. at a party in Florence. Four people died at the scene.
She said there was a pursuit involving the person responsible for the shooting, and that person died as well.
The four victims who died at the scene were identified by police as Shane Miller, 20, of Florence; Hayden Rybicki, 20, of Elsmere; Delaney Eary, 19, of Burlington and Melissa Parrett, 44, who lived at the home in Florence where the shooting happened.
Three other people were taken to UC Medical Center after the shooting. All were in stable condition as of early Saturday afternoon and are expected to recover, according to Florence Police Chief Jeff Mallery.
The Florence Police Department was called to a home on Ridgecrest Drive in response to shots fired at about 2:50 a.m., Mallery said in an update.
“When officers arrived, they still heard shots being fired,” he said.
They found two people shot outside and “went in to try and find the shooter,” Mallery said. Inside, they found more victims and rendered first aid.
Mallery said the party-goers identified the suspect as Chase Garvey, 20, of Florence, and told the officers he had fled the scene.
A Florence police officer and a Boone County sheriff’s deputy who were on their way to the scene saw Garvey and tried to make a traffic stop, but he fled south on U.S. 42 into Union, and officers pursued him, Mallery said.
While driving down Hicks Pike, Garvey crashed into a ditch and was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Mallery said. He was pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth Florence Hospital.
Police do not have a motive for the shooting, Mallery said Saturday. He said Garvey was known to the people at the party but was not thought to be a guest himself.
“He just showed up,” Mallery said.
The party-goers were celebrating the 21st birthday of the son of the 44-year-old woman who died in the shooting, Mallery said.
Florence, a burgeoning suburb of Cincinnati, is about 70 miles north of Lexington.
Mallery was visibly emotional during the news conference Saturday, which was broadcast on social media by Cincinnati television station WXIX.
“We’ve never dealt with this before,” he said. “I know it’s gone on throughout the nation, but this is the first time that we’ve had a mass shooting in Florence. So yeah, it is very emotional. My emotions are for the victims, their families, the officers that responded and everybody that was touched by this situation.”
While the Florence Police Department handled the investigation on Ridgecrest Drive, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office handled the scene where the shooter crashed in Union, he said.
