Springfield police investigating fatal mass shooting

Sunday’s incident was the city’s second mass shooting in less than a year

Springfield police continue to investigate an early Sunday morning mass shooting that left one woman dead and four other people injured.

The incident is the city’s second mass shooting in less than a year.

The identities of the victims in the latest mass shooting were not released Sunday. Police did not say Sunday evening if they’d arrested anyone in connection to the shootings.

The shooting happened shortly before 3 a.m. on Clifton Avenue near Rice Street and Southern Avenue on the south side of the city.

Police said they started their investigation after they received several calls about shots fired in the area of 1227 Clifton Avenue.

“On arrival, it was determined five individuals had been struck by gunfire,” police said in a statement. “The incident occurred outside of the residence in the street. The victims involve three females and two males, all the ages of 19 to 24.”

“One female victim was pronounced deceased on scene, the other four victims were taken to local hospitals,” the statement says.

Anyone with information about the shootings may call authorities at 937-324-7685.

Police didn’t say Sunday what led up to the shooting but said it didn’t appear it was a party. Authorities also did not release information on the extent of injuries suffered by the four victims who survived, though one person was transferred to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton.

One neighbor who asked that his name not be used, told this newspaper that the gunshots led him to check on his family’s safety. He said he heard a series of gunfire outside their homes at around 2:40 a.m. He didn’t go outside but saw police cars arriving through his window.

Clark County Sheriff’s deputies and troopers from the Springfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol assisted at the scene. At least a few blocks of streets around the Clifton Avenue scene were cordoned off early Sunday for the investigation.

This was the second mass shooting in Springfield in less than a year. On June 2, six were shot at a venue space on South Yellow Springs Street while people were attending a celebration of life event, the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Springfield Police Chief Lee Graf said at the time that the injuries of those who were shot in that incident were not life-threatening. The age of the victims in South Yellow Springs Street incident ranged from 20 to 25 years of age, according to an incident report filed by the Springfield Police Division.

Two men, Elijah Cuffie, 20, and Davon Hunt, 21, were charged in connection to the 2021 incident. Online court records indicate the cases are still pending and the two are listed online as inmates in the Clark County Jail.

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