Crowd fleeing the club hindered first responders
duty police officer at the club’s front door went inside to assist the couple, “and that’s when the shooting started.”
Cruz said he heard between 15 and 18 shots; Johnson thought it closer to 20. Immediately, Johnson said, people fled the club in a panic. She dropped to the ground, and Cruz lay on top of her until the tide of people ebbed. Then they went to their car, which now had a path to leave.
“We left Chicago to get away from all that,” Cruz said.
At a news conference Sunday morning at police headquarters Downtown, Mayor John Cranley called the shooting “this heinous crime.” “People were just going to have a good time, and they got shot. That is totally unacceptable,” Cranley said. Isaac said police are looking for more than one shooter, and the mayor and Isaac urged anyone with information about the shooting or the shooters to contact police. Isaac would not describe the progress of the effort to find the shooters except that the investigation was in its early hours. Isaac said the East End club, managed by Cincinnati entertainment mainstay Julian Rodgers, employed security guards who used hand-held metal detectors to ensure that no guns were brought into the club. Nevertheless, more than one person did bring a gun into the club, and how that happened is part of the investigation, Isaac said. Two people were in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, said spokeswoman Kelly Martin. Seven other people were treated for injuries, and at least five of them had been treated and released by noon Sunday. “We are the region’s Level 1 trauma center, so we prepare and train for situations like this and hope they never happen,” Martin said. Two other gunshot victims were treated and released at Bethesda North Hospital, said spokesman Joe Kelley. One gunshot patient was taken to Mercy Health-Anderson Hospital and was treated and released, said spokeswoman Nanette Bentley. Two gunshot victims were treated and released from the Christ Hospital. Isaac said first responders had difficulty getting to the club because patrons who had filled the parking lot were trying to leave the scene quickly. Sgt. Eric Franz said several victims tried to drive themselves to a hospital. At least two cars were abandoned on Kellogg Avenue when drivers decided they needed paramedics to complete the trip to the hospital.
Gov. John Kasich said the state would provide any support the city needed. “Saddened to learn about last night’s shooting in Cincinnati. Our prayers are with the victims and families of all of those involved,” Kasich tweeted.
Local restaurateur Jeff Ruby said on Twitter he was offering a $10,000 reward for anyone providing information leading to an arrest. One person died and seven were injured in a July 2016 shooting at a bar in Hamilton, a suburb.
Earlier Sunday, City Manager Harry Black, who was out of town and traveling back to Cincinnati, issued a statement that the shooting arose because of a dispute “between two specific groups or individuals earlier in the day, escalating and ultimately leading to this tragedy.”
Black added, “Cameo club has a history of gun violence including a shooting inside the club on New Year’s Day 2015 and a shooting in the parking lot in September of the same year.”
Isaac said that at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, “our emergency communication section began receiving calls that shots had been fired with injuries inside the Cameo nightclub,” at 4601 Kellogg Avenue, along the Ohio River.
Earlier Sunday, Franz described the club as “a chaotic scene. The club was completely packed.”
Franz said four off-duty officers were working parking lot security at the Cameo at the time of the shooting. Two were at the front door and heard the shots. The officers gave first aid to the victim who died, Franz said.
At the Sunday morning news conference, Isaac said body cameras are not yet being used when police officers work off-duty.
Cranley explicitly said there appears to be no connection to international terrorism in the shooting. “But to the victims, what difference does it make? They have been terrorized by gun violence, and they are innocent victims. … This is a tragedy that has struck other communities, and now it has struck Cincinnati.”