CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Police are investigating a homicide at a Walmart in the Westwood neighborhood Saturday.
Officials said someone opened fire in the parking lot of a Walmart Supercenter on Ferguson Road around 3:30 p.m. Jamontea Brown, 24, was killed in the shooting.
Community activist Rodney Christian said Brown was shot in the head while walking out of the store during the busy holiday weekend.
"That means you have no conscious, that means your level of doing what you do is at a high level," Christian said. "You didn't care. That's what we get out here — people who do not care and they have guns."
Michael Wilkinson showed up to the store Saturday to shop for the holidays. He was not expecting to see a crime scene, nor did he think he would know the victim. Wilkinson said he is friends with one of Brown's loved ones.
"They said very good things about him, said he was very family oriented," Wilkinson said. "They said he always had a smile on his face, they had no negative thing to say about him."
Brown's family had a vigil at the Walmart Sunday, saying they want privacy as they continue to mourn the 24-year-old father.
"The fact that he had a child, him being taken away from his children that's one of the things that makes it an even sadder story," Wilkinson said.
His family questioned how something so horrible could happen just feet away from CPD's District 3 headquarters. A witness at the scene of the shooting said there are cameras in the parking lot that could help with the police investigation.
The scene was the second shooting Christian went to Saturday, calling for change.
"When is enough enough, and when is everybody gonna get on board and start making change," Christian said.
The Homicide Unit is investigating the shooting. Anyone with information is asked to call 513-352-3542.
The shooting is the second at a Cincinnati retail center in as many days. Crews responded to a shooting at an IHOP in the Oakley neighborhood Friday night. One man was injured. He is expected to be OK.
A Walmart in Colerain Township was one of many shooting scenes earlier this month. Police responded to four locations within several blocks of each other in Colerain Township and Mt. Healthy, however no one was hurt.
In Columbus, one man was shot outside a Target store in broad daylight Nov. 8.
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