In response to Sunday’s mass shooting in a crowded Downtown park, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said he is “declaring war on illegal guns in Cincinnati.”
In a Twitter post Tuesday afternoon, Deters said he has told assistant prosecutors in his office not to offer plea deals in any cases involving gun violence or possession of illegal guns.
“It’s time for this nonsense to end,” Deters said.
It’s unclear if that means all those gun cases – likely in the hundreds – now must go to trial at a time when there have been few jury trials in Hamilton County because of the pandemic.
Deters could not immediately be reached for comment.
In a statement Monday, Deters called the shooting at Smale Park, which left two teenagers dead and three other teens wounded, unacceptable. The three wounded teens were caught in the crossfire in a densely packed park, officials have said.
A 16-year-old girl who was shot in the arm told Enquirer media partner Fox19 that she didn't initially realize what had happened.
“I thought somebody just shot me with a firework, and then I saw my hand, it was all bloody and I looked over and I said, ‘I got shot,’” the girl told Fox19. "I feel my arm, and I feel a bullet in my arm – like an actual bullet – so I was in shock.”
Deters said there needs to be a discussion about the root causes of such violence.
“No amount of money can fix the problems we are facing. Parents must parent their children. Communities must speak up,” he said. “Criminal behavior can no longer be tolerated and ignored. Until we insist on personal accountability, criminals will feel emboldened and the madness will continue.”
Deters also said it was wrong to blame guns. For too long, he said, “society has excused bad behavior perpetrated by bad people.”
Police said 400 to 500 people, mostly teens, were at the park when gunfire erupted Sunday around 10:45 p.m.
Milo Watson, 16, and Dexter Wright, Jr., 19, were each killed after exchanging gunfire.
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