In Dayton, people band together as they mourn

DAYTON — The Oregon District, like many thriving neighborhoods across the country, is full of restaurants and bars and life. People come here to celebrate, laugh, share a beer and dance.

But just a day after a mass shooting catapulted what was once Dayton’s notably safe, historic district into national news, those restaurants and shops were transformed Monday into places of grieving and pockets of comfort.

Inside Blind Bob’s tavern, customers stared blankly at the walls, occasionally pausing to take a sip of their drinks. Some played with their food or twisted their hair. A bartender with curly green hair hugged another server from behind, resting her chin on her coworker’s shoulder.

No one came in or out of the bar without receiving a hug from someone.

Mark Hallier, 26, had his head in his hands Monday. He’d been here for the past three hours, sipping on White Claws hard seltzer and messing with his ball cap, which encourages people to “Eat Local.”

“I just don’t wanna go home, and I don’t really want to be here, but where the f--- else am I gonna go?” he asked, gesturing at the ceiling.

Hallier lives next door, above Rebel Rebel Tattoo, which is directly across Fifth Street from the Ned Peppers Bar, where Sunday’s early morning shootings occurred.

The engineer has lived in the Oregon District for the past four or five months, but he’s moving out of his apartment Tuesday.

That’s because Hallier can’t get the image of the dead bodies on Fifth Street out of his mind. After the shooting, he slept on the floor of an acquaintance’s place before finally being able to come back to his apartment at noon Sunday.

“I got home and looked out the window and I could still see the blood and bullets, and I knew I couldn’t keep living like this,” he said.

Hallier was at Toxic Brewing Company when the gunman opened fire outside of Ned In Blind Bob’s bar Monday, two patrons share a moment of grief over the weekend tragedy at a nearby bar in the Oregon District of Dayton. They asked not to have their names used. Peppers Bar, a little over 100 feet away from Hallier.

“I stood there in a daze right in front of the door until one of my friends pulled me to the ground,” he said. “Everyone thinks they’ll do something. I wouldn’t have. I would’ve gotten shot.”

Then, during a vigil for the victims Sunday night, Hallier started feeling anxious and nervous. Being in front of loud

noises and big crowds was terrifying.

But he still has a deep respect for Dayton.

“This is a special community here,” he said, allowing a soft smile. “These people have the grit, and they’ll take care of you here.”

Hallier’s server on Monday, Nicole Hiserman, has been working at Blind Bob’s since it opened 11 years ago.

“I woke up on Sunday morning to over 150 missed phone calls,” she said. “I talked to one of my regulars this morning, and one of them watched his best friend from kindergarten get murdered in front of his eyes.”

Across the bar, the coowners of Heart Mercantile — Carly Short, Amanda Hensler and Brittany Smith — spent their lunch hour at Blind Bob’s. A display in front of their store down the street bears the names of the nine people who lost their lives Sunday: Megan Betts, Monica Brickhouse, Nicholas Cumer, Derrick Fudge, Thomas Mcnichols, Lois Oglesby, Saeed Saleh, Logan Turner and Beatrice Warren-curtis.

The trio has worked really hard to make Heart Mercantile a place that people enjoy, and they are determined not to let Sunday’s tragedy change that.

“He’s not one of us,” Smith said of the shooter. “It was an isolated incident and not reflective of our community.”