CINCINNATI (FOX19) - Four deaths among more than 20 shootings over the weekend have raised some questions from Cincinnati residents.
The deaths of Robert Rodgers, Myron Green, Jacquiez Grant and Antonio Blair are now re-igniting the conversation about gun violence across the Queen City.
Two Cincinnati residents, who talked with FOX19 Now, describe this past weekend’s violence as “crazy” and “sad.”
One of the residents, Alex Bennington, even stated there is something Cincinnati Police are not doing right.
“I don’t know what they doing, obviously they ain’t doing something right,” Bennington said.
Violent weekend | 4 killed, 19 total people shot late Saturday, early Sunday
Cincinnati FOP Sgt. Dan Hils said one of the challenges CPD is facing is a lack of officers.
“I really doubt they even had enough [officers],” said Sgt. Hils. “They probably were doing that in a subpar way in a non-preferable way because they just didn’t have enough people.”
Right now, the department has a little more than 1,000 officers.
But, when you factor in off days, training days, special assignments and the different districts they are in, there might only be 40 to 50 onboard.
When asked if they could add any officer, Hils said some groups are waiting to defund the police, which could have made this weekend a lot worse.
“Right now, we’re focused on, you know, there’s a group trying to basically defund and break apart the police department. So as bad as this weekend was, imagine if there wasn’t a homicide unit and patrol officers and arrest team to arrest these shooters once we find them,” said Sgt. Hils.
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