CINCINNATI (FOX19) - Not long before he was shot and killed, the victim of Sunday’s shooting in Avondale talked with one of his friends. Little did they know, this would be their last conversation.
Antonio Blair, 21, was one of four people shot around 12:30 a.m. on Chalfonte Place in Avondale, according to the Cincinnati Police Department.
Blair died after being taken to the hospital, police said in a press release on Sunday.
A few hours before he died, Blair contacted his friend, Austin Shoop.
Their conversation centered around some tickets Blair was looking for, Shoop said.
“So, he was trying to get a hold of me for some tickets,” Shoop explained. “I said, ‘I got you one second,’ and I ended up falling asleep. He tried to call me back and that was the last time.”
What Shoop did not know when he woke up was that would be the last time he would talk to Blair.
“This morning I had got up and I messaged him back like ‘Hey, you know what’s going on,‘” Shoop explained. “I got on Facebook and I seen he was gone.”
Shoop had seen his friend who he called “Tony” just about a week ago.
“He had came over, we had a real good conversation,” Shoop recalls. “Caught up on things and this is unfortunate to see the way things turned out.”
The two friends had big music plans they wanted to accomplish, Shoop said.
He said Blair was like a brother to him describing the 21-year-old as a great person with a genuinely loving heart.
Following the death of his friend, Shoop began looking for ways to help Blair’s family with some of the funeral expenses.
“I’m making T-shirts in his honor, that way I can sell them and give it to the family,” Shoop said.
As he reflects on the life and death of his friend, Shoop said he hopes people could show more love than hate as Blair did.
Police say the investigation into Blair’s death and the Avondale shooting is ongoing.
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