CINCINNATI — Twenty additional police officers went on patrol across the city Friday night. Many walked; some biked. Chief Eliot Isaac said he hopes having more officers out in the community will calm Cincinnatians’ nerves and discourage crime after a deadly July 4 shooting in Smale Park.

“Good idea,” said Ingrid Robinson, who went for a walk in the park Friday with her great-nieces and nephew. “And I think it keeps some of the, excuse my language, riff-raff away, the troublemakers. They need that down here."

Sixteen-year-old Milo Watson died at Smale on July 4. Police believe he was shot by — and was shooting at — 19-year-old Dexter Wright, who died shortly afterward at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Three other teenagers were struck in the crossfire but survived.

Neither gun had been recovered by Friday night.

District 1 commander Capt. Matthew Hammer, whose district includes Over-the-Rhine, Pendleton and the West End, began overseeing increased foot patrols in his neighborhoods several months ago.

"Our presence (is) so that we can monitor the situation, so we can provide a sense of safety and security and make sure folks know that we're here, available, we're ready and willing to act if necessary,” he said Friday. "It's all about being agile, it's about having the right resources available at the right places at the right time. So depending on how we organize our officers, if we can have a contingent that can respond quickly as circumstances change throughout the city, I think that's really useful.”

Tammy Marhart, who lives along the riverfront, visited Smale on Friday, too.

“It makes me feel pretty safe,” she said of the added police presence. “It’s just something that I feel like that will be noticed, and it’ll make people feel safe all over.”

CINCINNATI — In the wake of a shooting that left two teenagers dead and three more injured late Sunday night, community anti-violence advocate Peterson Mingo suggested an enforced curfew would prevent more incidents of youth violence over the summer.

“A 10 p.m. curfew would be beautiful,” he said.

Cincinnati already has one, but it wouldn’t have applied to most of the teenagers affected by the July 4 confrontation in Smale Park.

The city's statute, which was passed in 1994, requires teens under 16 to be home by 10 p.m. and teens 16-18 to head back by midnight.

Anyone found breaking the curfew can be cited, and their parents can legally be charged with a misdemeanor.

Only one of the teenagers wounded in the Sunday shooting — a 15-year-old boy — would have been subject to the 10 p.m. curfew as it stands in Cincinnati’s city charter that night.

The others were all 16 or older, including the two young men whom police later identified as the shooters. Chief Eliot Isaac said 16-year-old Milo Watson and 19-year-old Dexter Wright Jr. became involved in a confrontation that escalated into a shooting around 10:48 p.m. It killed them both.

Three other teens — the 15-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old girl — were injured.

Another time limit was approaching when it happened, however: The 11 p.m. closing of Smale Park. Police estimated about 400 people had come to watch fireworks over the river, and officers were moving them out of the park so it could close.

In statements after the shooting, Isaac and Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley each said that an additional curfew might not have helped prevent the attack if the park closing and presence of police officers didn’t deter the shooters.

"It's the holiday weekend,” Isaac said. “Who doesn't want to come out and see fireworks on a holiday weekend? I don't think that is the answer to what occurred last night. I think we need responsible adults to be responsible for juveniles."