Short North mass shooting driver surrenders to Columbus police
Ten young men and boys were injured during a mass shooting along High Street early Sunday in the Short North, the third such shooting in Ohio this month and at least fourth since May.
Late Sunday night, police said an adult male turned himself in and identified himself as the driver of a Honda Civic police had been seeking all day Sunday. The car was recovered outside of headquarters, police said.
All 10 victims — eight men 27 or younger and two boys between 16 and 18 — are expected to survive, police said. In early reports, police said one victim was transported in critical condition.
The shooting happened around 2:30 a.m. in the 1100 block of North High Street.
Police did not identity the man, but said he was arrested and charged with obstructing official business. They also said detectives are still working to identify everyone involved in the shooting.
Sunday's incident comes three weeks after a mass shooting at a birthday party on June 2 in Akron left 27 people injured and 27-year-old LaTeris Cook dead. Five people were shot in Cincinnati on June 15, but survived.
Bullet holes could be seen Sunday in two storefronts between East Fifth Avenue and East Fourth Avenue. The front window of a third building was shot out.
One of those shop's employees who did not want to be named said blood was on the sidewalk before the rain washed it away. By late Sunday morning, the brunch crowd appeared undeterred from coming to the popular entertainment district and many people were out and about.
The property manager of the building where the window was shot out, who did not want to be named, told The Dispatch he fears there's no recourse for violence in the city.
“This is a fantastic place. That’s why we’re down here. I take my kid down here morning, noon and night," he said. "This is a real problem because we’re not planning on leaving. And the people doing this are not local residences … People causing destruction should be held accountable."
He was upset that police chased and lost the suspect's vehicle. He also called on city leaders to spend more time in some of the city's troubled neighborhoods like the Short North at night.
This is not the first time the Short North has been rocked by gun violence.
On May 6, 2023, two shootings happened in one night that injured 10 people.
A month ago, three people were killed and three others were injured in a mass shooting nearby around where Weinland Park meets Italian Village.
City leaders call violence 'unacceptable'
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said Sunday's gun violence was "outrageous, it's unacceptable and it must stop" in a statement.
"Despite what happened, I want to reassure the community that the Short North is safe, but every neighborhood could be safer," he wrote.
Ginther urged parents to "step up — to know where their kids and teens are, and to enforce a curfew in homes."
Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein also responded in a Facebook post on a Dispatch article.
"We cannot sit back or become numb to the presence of violence in our city," he wrote. "We must do everything we can to protect public safety and keep our residents, businesses and neighborhoods safe from senseless violence."
Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin said he was "angry and outraged to wake up to another senseless shooting."
"I met with Short North community leaders just three days ago to discuss safety and neighborhood issues," he wrote in a statement. "... We won't allow our neighborhoods to be terrorized by these reckless shootouts."
Hardin also advocated for "common-sense" gun control policies.
Columbus city leaders passed some gun regulations in 2022 banning high compacity magazines and requiring safe gun storage. But those ordinances are on hold while the city battles the state in court. Many state government leaders who oppose gun restrictions have passed state laws that prevent local firearm regulations.
Witness describes chaotic aftermath
Kurtis Chenoweth, 23, of Cincinnati, and a group of his friends were walking home from a bar after 2:20 a.m. on Sunday. He is the son of Dispatch photographer Doral Chenoweth.
Walking along High Street, Kurtis Chenoweth and his friends walked over shattered glass and came across two different men bleeding on the sidewalk. He said they saw a woman helping one of the gunshot victims by using a tourniquet. The second victim they encountered said he didn't want help.
"We waved down a cop who was driving by and told them there's a man shot here and might be bleeding out, desperately needs care," Chenoweth said. "And then we started to see a ton of cops flying by."
Hattie Cage, 52, and her son Dontaye Cage, 33, are homeless and were sleeping a street over when they woke up to sirens.
"We just woke up to a mess around 3 a.m.," Hattie Cage said. She said she saw crime scene tape and officers directing people who were running.
"It's just crazy out here," Hattie cage said. "I think it's a combination of the excessive heat, people smoking weed or alcohol or whatever drug they was doing and just tempers flare."
Cage, who is from the North Side, said, "we didn’t have mass shootings here. We never did until recently."
Hattie Cage said she and her son always try to sleep where there are cameras or lights to keep themselves safe. She wanted to reassure her family that she and her son are safe.
Short North residents feel safe during day, fear 'hot and violent summer' at night
Anthony Accetturo, 26, and his girlfriend, Ashley Mast, 28, who lives in the Short North, were walking her dog, Chubby, in the early afternoon. The couple, which heard the sirens overnight, said they feel safe walking around the neighborhood during the day and even on a weekday night.
Once it gets past about 2 a.m. on a weekend, the couple said they wouldn't feel safe walking around the Short North.
"Like my friend says, it's going to be a hot and violent summer, because one, it's hot. Two, prices on everything are going up," Accetturo said.
But Accetturo thinks the gun violence is in some ways inevitable in an urban neighborhood.
"There will always be somebody hotheaded with a gun who decides this is worth it, this is worth killing a guy over," Accetturo said. "It's really just going to happen in these club environments where people feel their manhood is being tested," he said.
Mast said she loves living in this vibrant and walkable community full of arts and fun things to do and hates that the shootings overshadow the neighborhood.
"People who don't live in the Short North really just see it and label it as drinking or gun violence," Mast said.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Short North mass shooting updates: Driver surrenders
