WOSU Mayor Andrew Ginther speaking outside City Hall on Monday, May 24, 2021, in response to a weekend shooting at Bicentennial Park that killed a 16-year-old girl.
Columbus City officials are urging parents to take the lead after an unpermitted party at a Columbus park ended with gunfire and the death of a 16-year-old girl this weekend.
A little after 10 p.m. Saturday, calls about a party at Bicentennial Park started coming in on the police non-emergency line. It was only a noise complaint, so it was a low priority call. There was also a shift change coming up at 11 p.m. Just a few minutes before that at about 10:51 p.m., a police cruiser arrived on the scene. That’s also when police got their first calls about gunfire.
In an impassioned plea for the violence to end in Columbus, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said Monday that the city and the police department can t raise people s children.
The statements came two days after 16-year-old Olivia Kurtz was killed and five other teens were wounded in a shooting around 11:50 p.m. Saturday during an unauthorized DJ party at Bicentennial Park along the Scioto River. Put the guns down, Ginther urged at the press conference outside City Hall, less than a mile from the still active crime scene.
Olivia Kurtz was an honor roll student who studied Japanese
Minutes before Ginther spoke, Columbus City school leaders spoke about Kurtz, an honors student who studied Japanese, and the classmates who are mourning her loss.
1 dead, multiple injured in shooting at downtown Columbus park
Columbus police said the shooting happened at a private event and that the five others injured, all under the age of 20, are expected to recover. Author: 10TV Web Staff Updated: 9:10 AM EDT May 23, 2021
COLUMBUS, Ohio A 16-year-old girl was killed and five people, all under 20 years old, were hurt in a shooting that happened at Bicentennial Park in downtown Columbus.
Columbus police were called to the scene of the shooting in the 200 block of South Civic Center Drive and Rich Street at 11:51 p.m. Saturday.
Police said the shooting happened during a private event that had been promoted on social media.