Officer, suspect dead in Cincinnati a er gunfight
Veteran police officer, suspect both killed in street shootout. Multiple shots fired, according the chief.
Police were responding to a 911 call about an erratic armed man. Officer Sonny Kim, a 27-year veteran of the Cincinnati Police D epartment, died along with the suspect,
A gunfight erupted on a city street Friday between a suspect and police responding to a 911 call about an erratic armed man, killing a longtime officer and the suspect.
Officer Sonny Kim, a decorated 27-year veteran of the Cincinnati Police Department, died along with the suspect in the shooting shortly before 9: 30 a.m. in the Madisonville neighborhood, Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell said.
“Our hearts are broken,” Blackwell said, choking back tears at a news conference Friday. “We lost a brother.”
The shooting comes nine days after Cincinnati police released a 90-day plan for dealing with a recent surge of gun violence in the city. The police chief said then that shootings were up 28 percent over last year.
The plan involved increasing foot patrols and reducing the availability of “criminal street guns.”
In Madisonville, where Friday’ shooting occurred, police have seized more than 20 guns since the start of 2014.
Details of Friday’s gunfight and what preceded it are sketchy. Blackwell said some sort of struggle erupted in the street.
“We’re not sure which officers involved actually fired rounds,” Blackwell said Friday. “We’re not sure how many rounds were fired. We just know that multiple shots were fired between the suspect and responding officers.”
Kim, 48, leaves behind a wife and three sons. He was wearing body armor during the shooting.
“Today is a tragic day for all Cincinnatians,” Mayor John Cranley said in a statement.
Blackwell would not release
the identity or any details about the suspect.
However, family members of Tre Hummons, 21, told WCPO that they believed he had been shot and died.
Hummons wrote “I love every last one of y’all to whoever has been in my life.... You’re the real MVP” on Facebook just eight minutes before the first 911 call.
Family members told WCPO they didn’t know what led up to the shooting.
“I’m just asking God for peace, and what I do know is that all the shooting has got to stop,” Nancy Fant, Hummons’ grandmother, said. “I don’t care what the situation is. It has to stop.”
Kim was working an overtime shift, according to Fraternal Order of Police President Kathy Harrell. She declined to go further into police staffing issues.
“This week is about Officer Kim’s family, their wishes,” Harrell said. “All of that is going to wait, and believe me, it will happen, it will be done at a different date and time.”
Police spokeswoman Tiffaney Hardy said that Kim was working overtime because of low staffing levels. The Madisonville call was the first and only call Kim took Friday.
“This is a tragedy and we’re going to try to get through it,” he said.
It was the first time a Cincinnati officer was killed in the line of duty since 2000 and the first time a Cincinnati officer was killed in a shooting since 1997.
Kim was first appointed as a recruit in 1987. He was promoted to police officer the next year after he graduated from the Police Academy. Kim received 22 commendations during his career, most recently for exemplary conduct and safe driving in 2013.