NORWOOD, Ohio —

Police in Norwood have issued a critical missing alert for a teenage boy.

Officers are looking for 17-year-old Joseph Flores.

Flores was last seen on Sunday leaving his workplace at Rookwood Exchange, after experiencing what police are calling a "mental health episode."

Anyone with information on where Flores could be is asked to get in touch with their local police department or call the Hamilton County Communications Center at 513-458-4521.

CINCINNATI —

A deadly shooting is under investigation in Norwood.

Norwood police said they were called to a home in the 5100 block of Hunter Avenue around 1 a.m., where they found a man who had been shot in the chest.

He was taken to UC Medical Center, where he died.

Neighbors said they heard people arguing, followed by one gunshot. Afterward, neighbors said people scattered from the home.

Rob Bolin has lived in the neighborhood for more than 40 years. He said that lately, there's been a lot of activity on the street.

"They just stop, pull up in the middle of the street, and do their little thing and take off," Bolin said.

Josh McCarthy also lives in the area.

"Hopefully, we can go off of this and rebuild chemistry together and get a neighborhood watch going, something along the lines of that to where we can get together and make this place better than it was before," McCarthy said.

Police have no information on the victim or suspect but said this does not appear to be a random shooting.

NORWOOD, Ohio —

For most, Wasson Way is a trail for walking or running. Today, it was a Cincinnati Public School Teacher's canvas for art.

Aimee Costandi began leaving encouraging messages on the trail at the beginning of the pandemic. This week, she made her way to Norwood aiming to do more. “I know that there’s a lot of really good people that like to walk this trail and a lot of health care workers," she said, "this was a good place to start.”

With chalk, paint and brushes in hand, Costandi offered walkers and runners the chance to leave a heart, message or name of a health care worker. “I know the kind of stress that health care professionals are under right now and I see them crying on TikTok videos and it breaks my heart and I wanted to just give them a message that we really appreciate what you’re doing,” Costandi said.

Though these hearts and names will wash away with the rain, Costandi hopes the kind words won’t. She also created a Twitter account where people can leave their messages permanently. “So I'm hoping that it turns into a place where health care workers can hop on to a Twitter feed." said Costandi, "Wouldn’t it be nice to have a place where there are lots of positive messages of encouragement before you drift off to sleep from a really hard day?”

For Costandi, this project is a form of therapy. She explained further, “...doing this type of project really helps me cope with my feelings because I feel for them. Because we’re all part of this world, we’re all Americans and you know, we should care about one another.”

The mural also serves as a reminder of togetherness for the community. “I wanted to spend my time doing something that makes me feel good and let other people know that we’re all in this together,” Costandi said.

Costandi shared that she would be having more pop-up events around the Greater Cincinnati Area in the future.

If you'd like to leave a message of encouragement for local health care workers, you can visit the Twitter Costandi created. Just search: @suppcincyhc

NORWOOD, Ohio —

A Norwood police officer is honored for pulling an unconscious man from a flipped-over, burning car.

Police said seconds earlier the suspect had been speeding away in a pursuit.

Every day, police officers hit the streets not knowing what or who they will encounter.

In this case, there was no time to waste and skills kicked in.

"Fortunately, you know, like I said, I was able to get the door open and everything ended up OK," Norwood police Officer David Froesel said.

Thinking back to that moment is emotional for Froesel.

He has been on the force a little more than a year, and a man's life was in his hands.

"The only thing that I was really worried about at the time was trying to get him out because as you can see from the video, I mean the fire took off very fast," Froesel said.

It had only been seconds prior in the early morning hours of April 9, when he spotted the man behind the wheel, Keith Lamar Wright, 35, driving erratically.

Wright had allegedly been going 71 miles per hour in an area of Ross Avenue marked for just 25 miles per hour.

Froesel said he caught up to Wright and the Kia Sorento he was driving at Ross and Readng, when Wright apparently took a sharp turn onto Reading Road, almost hitting a car.

The officer said he followed Wright onto the Norwood Lateral all the way to Paddock Road, where he kept speeding away.

"He was moving pretty fast. I was going about 90 miles an hour on Paddock, which is a 35 mile an hour road and he was way ahead of me. So, he was probably north of 100 miles an hour," Froesel said.

It was when Froesel got to Paddock and East Seymour that the situation took an explosive turn.

Wright slammed the Kia into a utility police, according to police, blowing a transformer and bringing down wires.

The Kia was flipped and on fire.

Police said Wright was stuck inside, unconscious, and Froesel shattered a window with his baton to get him out while the Kia burned.

It earned Froesel Norwood's Life-Saving Award this week.

"I think that that's the award that everybody, you know, kind of strives for, but you know at the end of the day this is just part of the job. At the end of the day, it's just public service. Public safety," he said.

Froesel said he became a police officer a little more than a year ago for many reasons, with the biggest one being that he wants to help people.

Wright was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center from the scene.

It appears he was indicted earlier this month on several charges linked to the incident, including failure to comply with the signal of a police officer and improperly handling firearms in a vehicle.

NORWOOD, Ohio — Beginning Friday, April 16, Hamilton County Public Health will no longer require appointments for vaccination doses at the Board of Elections clinic site in Norwood.

The clinic is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Vaccines will be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis while supplies last. If all doses have been given out before the end of the clinic’s hours, people who do not receive a shot can schedule an appointment within the next week.

“We piloted a no-appointment clinic and it was an overwhelming success,” Hamilton County Health Commissioner Greg Kesterman said. “Offering no-appointment clinics should capture some of the folks who have waited to schedule their vaccine. The more people we can get vaccinated, the closer we get to resuming our normal activities for the summer.”

People still wanting to make an appointment to get vaccinated can use the ArmorVax App and those without access to the internet can receive assistance scheduling by dialing 211.