Police seek person of interest in death of girl, 13, one of two homicides over July 4th weekend

Credit: Eileen McClory

Credit: Eileen McClory

Police are seeking a person of interest in the early Monday shooting death of a 13-year-old girl shot during a party on Kipling Avenue in Dayton.

The death of the girl, whose name was not released Monday, was one of two suspected homicides that happened over the Fourth of July holiday weekend in Dayton. In a second case, an unidentified man’s body was found shot and burned Sunday in the woods near West Riverview Avenue, police Lt. Jason Hall said during a Monday afternoon press briefing.

Dayton police and medics were called just before 2 a.m. Monday to a home in the 2200 block of Kipling Drive.

“My baby sister has been shot,” said a 911 caller who also told dispatchers that her sister had been shot in her lower back.

Hall said the girl lived at the home, and that she was a bystander in a fight between two people at a large party. She was taken to a local hospital, where she died of her injuries.

Hall identified Shamarr Bodine, 20, as a person of interest in the shooting.

Hall asked anyone with information about this event to come forward so they could solve the crime. The girl had no part in the fight, he said, and was an innocent bystander.

“Just some very reckless actions on the part of others,” Hall said.

Dayton police were called shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday to the 5500 block of West Riverview Avenue, where a man’s body was found in a wooded area about midway between West Riverview Avenue and Wolf Creek. The man had been shot, and there were signs of fire around the man, Hall said.

It was not clear how long the body had been in the woods, nor have investigators yet identified the man, he said.

Police declined to release more information, citing the ongoing investigation.

In addition to the two deaths, police are investigating a shooting reported around 11:50 p.m. Friday on Hoover Avenue near Tyson Avenue, according to Montgomery County Regional Dispatch Center records.

One person was shot in the stomach and taken to Miami Valley Hospital. Hall said police have identified persons of interest and secured an arrest warrant.

Hall said violent crime in general increases during the summer across the country. A total of 20 homicides have happened in Dayton so far this year, he said.

Staff Writer Jen Balduf contributed to this report.

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