Police said it does not appear that any of the weekend incidents were connected, but they have few leads to go on in each case.
“It was obviously a very violent 48-hour weekend,” said Dayton Police Sgt. Richard Blommel, head of the homicide unit.
The spate of gun violence sent street advocates with the Community Initiative to Reduce Gun Violence (CIRGV) out canvassing neighborhoods.
“Any violence is too much,” said CIRGV program director Sean Walton Sr., noting also that there doesn’t appear to be a trend in the unrelated incidents.
“We want to make sure the community knows that they are not powerless,” he said. “They can’t be silent and assume that someone else is going to call when they hear shots fired in their neighborhood.”
A Michigan man was shot to death during an aggravated burglary in the 1400 block of Leo Street at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday. Two men forced their way into the apartment, one of them shooting and killing 42-year-old Allen R. Lindenman.
Police said Lindenman often traveled to Dayton for work and hung out with friends in Old North Dayton.
At about 2:15 p.m. Sunday detectives were called to the 200 block of Boyer Street where 18-year-old Brandon Shells Jr. was found shot in the head between two houses. Blommel said the initial investigation indicates that he may have been shot between 9 and 10 p.m. Saturday when neighbors reported hearing shots.
“We have to go back and figure out why he was a victim,” Blommel said.
Two men were injured by gunfire, one critically, at an apartment building in the 2000 block of Emerson Avenue at about 7:15 p.m. Sunday. Keith Higgins, 22, was rushed from the scene to Miami Valley Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. He was in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit on Monday, according to police. A second victim, 24, showed up at Good Samaritan Hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the shoulder.
Blommel said police are hoping to interview Higgins when his condition improves to determine what happened in that incident.
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