COLUMBUS, Ohio — A teenage girl and several others were injured in a mass shooting late Saturday night at a music party promoted on social media at the amphitheater in Bicentennial Park in downtown Columbus.
Police and Columbus Fire medics were called at 11:51 p.m. Saturday to a reported shooting at the park along Scioto Mile and found a chaotic scene with several people wounded.
Olivia Kurtz, 16, was transported to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 1:06 a.m., police said.
Three females and two males, ranging in age from 16 to 19, were wounded. The shooting victims were transported to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and Nationwide Children's Hospital.
A 16-year-old male transported to OSU Wexner underwent surgery and is reported in stable condition. The other gunshot victims were all expected to recover from their injuries, police said.
Two other young people received hospital treatment for non-gunshot injuries as they were attempting to flee from the area.
Dozens of small cones marking bullet casings and evidence covered the stage, steps and the surrounding grass areas Sunday morning. A police K9 dog also was at the scene scouring for evidence.
Police said there was no scheduled event at the park, but that the shooting occurred during "a private event that was promoted on social media."
Numerous red party cups could be seen Sunday scattered on the steps around the amphitheater, apparently abandoned by people fleeing the gunfire. At least one park bench in front of the amphitheater appeared to have been knocked over.
Rick Richards, who lives in the Miranova condominiums across West Main Street facing Bicentennial Park, said he and his wife started hearing music playing at the amphitheater around 9:30 p.m.
"The music was getting louder and louder," Richards said, and by about 10 p.m. he and his wife and some neighbors began calling the Columbus police nonemergency line about the noise.
"By about 10 p.m., more and more (young people) are coming, and scooters are going in and out of the park and cars are stopping on the street and it's very loud," Richards said.
"The longer this goes on, the louder it gets, the more people are there," Richards said. "The kids are on social media and see something going on and it feeds more and more people."
Richards said they called the police nonemergency number again about 10:30 p.m. and again a little after 11 p.m.
"No one's coming," Richards said of police. "The response early on is there's a shift change and it's not a priority call," he said, but the dispatcher did say they were putting it on the call list.
Unable to sleep because of the vibrating bass from the music, Richards said he went onto his condo balcony and looked over at the large crowd of people at the park. He said he was on the balcony for only a few minutes and considering calling the police again when gunfire broke out.
"All at once I hear, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop," Richards recalled. "People just started scattering like crazy."
This time, Richards called the 911 emergency line to report a shooting. A dispatcher answered right away, he said, and while he was still on the phone with the dispatcher, a wave of police and medics were responding at the park.
Richards said he believes police might have broken up the park event and the shooting not have occurred if they had responded sooner to the nonemergency calls about crowd and noise.
"Had someone (from police) come at 10 a.m., instead of letting it go on past 10:30 or 11 o'clock, they could have shut it down with one or two cruisers," he said.
"Disappointment doesn't speak well when someone is dead," Richards said of the police response. "I don't know what the priorities are. ... I think this was absolutely avoidable."
Columbus police officials could not immediately be reached for comment on what, if anything, was done about the nonemergency calls by Richards, his wife and neighbors about the party at the park, and whether officers were on other priority calls.
Brian Steel, vice president of Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, said the Bicentennial Park shooting is "is just another example of the complete chaos plaguing our city. At some point we must all come together, say “enough is enough” and demand law and order is re-established. Our hearts go out for the victims and families impacted by the violence.”
Detectives are asking anyone with photos or who was at this event to contact the Columbus Police Homicide Section at (614) 645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at (614) 461-8477.
Bicentennial Park was closed and surrounded by crime scene tape and the West Main and Rich Street bridges remained closed as of 1 p.m. Sunday.
Bicyclists Andy Starr, 52, and his wife, Stephanie Simkovic, 53, of the University District, were riding along the Scioto Trail through Downtown when there trip was stopped by the crime scene tape.
"I just can't understand how volatile it's become," Starr said. " ... It seems like we are getting more and more aggressive. You would think (the young people) would just want to have fun."
"It's senseless. I mean, why?" Simkovic said.
