Early this morning on 4801 Kellog Avenue, a mass shooter walked into the Cameo Nightclub in Cincinnati, Ohio, shot and wounded fourteen people, and left one victim dead.
An NBC affiliate WLWT reported that the shooting occurred at 1 a.m. local time.
Police arrived on the scene following a 911 call placed after the shooting had taken place. When asked to comment, Cincinnati Assistant Police Chief Paul Neudigate stated on Twitter that the police did not believe that the incident was related to terrorism.
He was alluding to last year’s mass shooting in Orlando that left 49 people dead and is rated the worst mass shooting in American history.
Neudigate added that at the moment, the motive behind the Ohio shooting was unclear to his department.
Captain Kimberly Williams said in a televised report, “The [Cameo] nightclub has had several problems in the past, but none had had repercussions as severe as today’s incident.” She also stated that the police department had believed that two shooters were involved in the attack but that they [the police] had revised their stance when eyewitness reports chalked it up to one shooter. The shooter has not been apprehended, and the Cincinnati police have not completely discarded the theory that the shooter may have had an accomplice.
Williams further remarked that the police did not have an accurate description of the shooter yet because the witnesses were reluctant to come forward. Added to that, Williams went on to say, was the ‘chaotic’ scene that had followed the shooting. Neudigate further reiterated that several witnesses had fled the crime scene after the spectacle but that the police department would ‘work with those witnesses who had been identified.’
Neudigate was also reported to have commented that the homicide investigators would have a ‘very long night’ ahead of them since the shootings took place in the club when ‘there were hundreds of people present’ and had resulted in multiple victims.
The victims of the shooting were taken to four local hospitals with several spotting life-threatening injuries. One victim, however, died from his gunshot wound despite numerous attempts of CPR by the police half an hour after the shooting, reported Captain Williams. The homicide victim had sustained a head shot.
Kelly Martin, a healthcare professional from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, was able to confirm that the hospital had received eight gunshot victims from the incident for treatment. Of the eight victims, one was reported to be in critical condition, three others in seriously unstable conditions whereas the other four were already stable.
Though the police still continue to search for a suspect in the shootings, Neudigate said that the task would be difficult because the police had not yet uncovered what the reason for instigation of the shooting was. The Cincinnati Police Department, on the other hand, did not confirm whether or not it had any suspects in custody already.
The investigation is still ongoing therefore updates may be available in the days to come.
