Two people have died, including a 4-year-old girl, after a gunman opened fire during a “celebratory gathering” in Ohio, police said.

The shooting occurred Friday night in a parking lot in the Summit Lake neighborhood in Akron, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. A young girl, who has since been identified as Journei Tolbert, was suffering from a gunshot wound to the head when authorities responded around 9:15 p.m.

She was rushed to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead a short time later.

A second victim, 40-year-old Johnny Gaiter, who was also struck in the chaos, succumbed to his wounds early Saturday morning.

Franklin Ragsdale III, a good friend of Gaiter’s, told 19 News that he died “trying to save that little girl.”

The violence comes just days after protests broke out across Akron over the killing of 25-year-old Jayland Walker, who was shot at least 60 times by eight different police officers.

In wake of the shooting, authorities alleged that Walker fired what appeared to be a gunshot out his window amid a car chase with officers. A gun was later recovered from his vehicle, but investigators have since determined he was unarmed when he was killed.

Akron’s mayor Dan Horrigan, the chief of police and activists in the community have called for calm in wake of the recent shooting.

“People have a right to protest, and they’ve shown up at my house. I don’t like it but they have a right to be there,” Horrigan said, adding “we need to drop the temperature a little bit in the community, because it’s hurting.”



Source link

By admin