Columbus leaders vow to fight teen violence

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Columbus city and police leaders are coming together to say they will not tolerate any more violence, particularly violence involving young people.

This stand comes after a 17-year-old was shot and killed, five others injured at a party at a southside short-term rental on July 4. Three weeks prior, an 18-year-old was killed and six others injured at a “pop-up party” in Downtown Columbus.

Police said officers did a lot of work to keep violence down leading up to the holiday weekend, including a juvenile warrant round-up where eight arrests were made, 83 warrant services were attempted, and 17 notices made (family or household members were made aware of active warrants). Officers also arrested five people with guns at Red, White and BOOM! Police said all of those arrests were people under 20 years old, two were juveniles. Police said two of the guns were reportedly stolen.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said seeing the violence this weekend is frustrating.

“I want the individuals involved in these events or considering hanging around with these groups to know that this behavior will not be tolerated in our city,” he said. “This is not how we solve conflict. Only cowards solve conflicts with guns. To the community, I know you are exhausted with these events. I share your frustration.”

Police said there were two homicides in the City of Columbus over the holiday weekend. Police say details about the incident at a party at a short-term rental on the south side are still limited due to the ongoing investigation; Cameron Moore, 17, was shot and killed at the party while five others were injured.

“What happened this weekend is nonsense, and it should not have happened,” Columbus Division of Police Assistant Chief Nick Konves said.

According to police, a disturbance call was made for the short-term rental a few hours before the shooting; people at the party were given a warning by responding officers.

“In an hour and a half period that same night, we had 19 other of those exact causes of large parties, large disturbances, large fights going on throughout the city," Konves said.

The shooting happened around 2:40 a.m.

Konves said the department is meeting with short-term rental companies to discuss ways to prevent this and make information more available.

“We don't exactly have data available, readily available in the middle of the night of who owns the short-term rental, what a lot of time it's a company, getting that real-time, so that's why we want to meet with these folks, to figure out if we can come up with real-time solutions to be able to handle these better in the future," Konves said. “We understand it's a problem. What happened this weekend is nonsense, and it should not have happened, and that is why we are taking steps now to figure out what we can do to come up with creative solutions to ensure that this does not continue to happen moving forward.”

Ginther said he will also meet with city council to discuss legislative action and administrative action.

Police leaders said that this year, their focus has been on a small group of people.

“We're using so much data to try to actually target the people that are pulling triggers,” Columbus Division of Police Deputy Chief Robert Sagle said.

Officials said that plan has helped, noting the city’s homicide rate is the lowest it's been since 2013 with the police solve rate sitting at 78%, almost 30% above the national average. Police said that just in the last two weeks, 28 guns have been confiscated; more than 1,000 guns have been taken off the streets so far this year.

“I can say that we're always reassessing, how do we do things better,” Columbus Division of Police Assistant Chief Lashanna Potts said. “But what continues to happen is, as the mayor has said time and time again, is that we know that underage kids are out here after 12, our officers are being diligent. They're making arrests, are doing investigations, and we're doing our part as well.”

As of now, police have not released any suspect information or made any arrests related to the July 4 shooting.

If you have any information, video, or pictures from the shooting, police ask you to contact them by clicking here.