Over-the-Rhine bar owner recounts moments people sought shelter during mass shooting

THE CASE AS WE GET MORE INFORMATION. WE APPRECIATE THE REPORT. WITNESSES OF THE SHOOTING OBVIOUSLY SHAKEN UP. PEOPLE ON SOCIAL MEDIA SAY THEY HAVE NEVER SEEN A POLICE PRESENCE LIKE THIS DOWN IN THE OVER-THE-RHINE AREA. MEREDITH STUTZ HAS BEEN TALKING WITH WITNESSES AND YOU HAVE SURVEILLANCE VIDEO IN THE MOMENTS AFTER THE SHOOTING WHEN, AS RICHARD WAS EXPLAINING IT, IT WAS ESSENTIALLY CHAOS. MEREDITH: IT WAS CHAOS BECAUSE IT WENT FROM A COMFORTABLE SATURDAY NIGHT, EVERYONE ENJOYING THE TIME OUT IN OTR HERE ON MAIN STREET, AND THEN THOSE SHOTS RANG OUT. THIS WAS JUST ONE SPOT WHERE PEOPLE HAD COME TO ENJOY THE SATURDAY NIGHT. THE OWNER TELLS ME THAT SHE HEARD SOMEWHERE AROUND 30 SHOTS RING OUT IN TWO DIFFERENT TIMES. ABOUT 10 SHOTS AND THEN LATER, 20 SHOTS. AS RICHARD WAS TALKING ABOUT, THAT IS WHEN PEOPLE JUST STARTED RUNNING, TRYING TO FIND SAFETY. THEN, TRYING TO RUN FOR COVER. A LOT OF PEOPLE ENDED UP RUNNING INTO YEAR. PEOPLE GRABBING THE HANDS OF THEIR LOVED ONES, JUST TRYING TO FIND THE NEAREST DOOR TO GET OFF OF MAIN STREET HERE AND TRIED TO GET TO SHELTER. AND HOW CRAZY IS THIS — WE WERE TALKING WITH THE OWNER WHO TELLS US THAT AMONG THE PEOPLE WHO SOUGHT COVER INSIDE THE BAR HERE AT THE HUB WAS A WEDDING PARTY. SO YOU HAD A BRIDE IN A WEDDING DRESS ALL OF THE SUDDEN SEEKING SHELTER BECAUSE OF MULTIPLE SHOTS RING OUT ON THE DAY OF THEIR WEDDING. NOT ONLY IS THIS DEVASTATING FRUSTRATING, IS INFLURIATING. INCLUDING FOR BUSINESS OWNERS AND BARS HERE. THE OWNER HERE TOLD ME THAT OUT OF HER FRUSTRATION AND CONCERN, SHE TRAINS HER STAFF TO BE ABLE TO BE ADVOCATES FOR SAFETY. WHO IS COMING INTO THE BAR, WHAT IS GOING INTO THE DRINKS, BUT NOW HAVING TO TRAIN WHAT TO DO IF THERE IS AN ACTIVE SHOOTER. HOW DO YOU COMFORT PEOPLE? ALL OF A SUDDEN, YOU HAVE THIS MIND SHIFT OF JUST A FEW MOMENTS, A FEW SECONDS WHERE EVERYTHING CHANGES. WE HAVE A CLIP WE WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU FROM A CONVERSATION WITH THE OWNER OF WHAT SHE SAW THIS MORNING WHEN THOSE SHOTS RANG OUT. TAKE A LISTEN. >> THERE WAS PROBABLY ABOUT 25-30 SHOTS FIRED OFF IN TWO SEPARATE ROUNDS. FIRST WHERE IT WENT BANG BANG BANG, AND THEN WE HEARD BANG BANG BANG, AND THAT IS WHEN EVERYONE STARTED RUNNING INSIDE OF WHERE YOU COULD GO. I MADE SURE EVERYONE WAS INSIDE AND I WALKED UP THE STREET TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED AND THERE WAS OF COURSE, MORE SHOOTING VICTIMS. I’M NOT SURE HOW MANY. >> IF YOU CAN, WHAT DID YOU SEE WHEN YOU SAW THE VICTIMS? >> I SAW TWO MEN LAYING ON THE GROUND, KIND OF HOLDING THEIR LEGS, SHOT IN THE LEGS. THERE WAS ANOTHER MAN SITTING IN A CHAIR WHO SEEMED TO BE UNABLE TO MOVE. ANOTHER MAN ON THE GROUND. I’M PRETTY SURE THEY WERE GIVING HIM CHEST COMPRESSIONS, SOMEBODY WAS OVER HIM. I WENT BACK DOWN THERE MAYBE 15 MINUTES LATER TO TRY TO WALK SOMEBODY HOME DOWN THE STREET, AND EVERYTHING WAS ROPED OFF OR TAPED OFF TO TRY TO GET MORE TAPE. THEY RAN OUT OF TAPE. THAT IS WHEN THE MAN IN THE CHAIR HAD TO BE LIFTED OUT OF THE CHAIR AND INTO AN AMBULANCE, HE DID NOT REALIZE HE HAD BEEN SHOT. >> WHAT WAS THAT LIKE? >> TO LOT. MEREDITH: WE KNOW IT WOULD BE A LOT, UNDERSTANDABLY SO. YOU’RE JUST TRYING TO ENJOY A NIGHT WITH YOUR FRIENDS, AND THEN ALL OF THIS HAPPENS. AND A LOT HAPPENED IN JUST A MATTER OF SECONDS. SO AS YOU JUST HEARD, SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT SEEING THOSE VICTIMS JUST LAYING ON THE GROUND, AND SHE SAYS THAT SHE HAS BEEN HERE FOR 10 YEARS, AND SHE HAS NEVER SEEN VIOLENCE LIKE THIS. IT IS JUST SO DEVASTATING AND FRUSTRATING BECAUSE SHE ULTIMATELY SAYS THAT WITH THIS WEEKEND, WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT WEEKEND? JUST THAT FRUSTRATION OF BUSINESS OWNERS AND STAFF MEMBERS SAYING WHAT KIND OF ENVIRONMENT ARE WE WORKING IN AND LIVING IN, BUT INVITING CUSTOMERS TO COME DOWN AND ENJOY DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IN? PEOPLE ARE JUST UNDERSTANDABLY DEVASTATED. THE SOUNDS OF GUNFIRE WILL STAY WITH THEM FOR DAYS IF NOT LONGER IN ADDITION TO THE FOLKS WHO, UNFORTUNATELY, WERE INVOLVED IN THE SHOOTINGS, EITHER INTENTIONALLY OR UNINTENTIONALLY AND NOW HAVE SUFFERED WOUNDS FROM THIS. WE CONTINUE THAT CONVERSATION WITH LINDSAY EVEN BETWEEN SHOTS AND SHE WAS TELLING ME THAT SHE HEARD THAT POTENTIAL INJURIES OF SOMEONE. SHE ALSO TOLD A SHE RECEIVED A PHONE CALL THAT’S OF A FAMILY FRIEND HAD BEEN INJURED. IT IS NOT JUST THAT WE HEARD ABOUT IT OR READ ABOUT IT, WE KNOW SOMEONE. IS THAT FRUSTRATION AND FEAR AND SADNESS THAT COMES WITH THESE TYPE OF SHOOTINGS AND JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT ANSWERS BUT ALSO TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WE DO, WHAT IS BEING DONE TO PREVENT A SHOOTING LIKE THIS AND WHAT OUR INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE DOING TO PREVENT SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENING AGAIN EVEN NEXT WEEK IN? KELLY: WE COULD SEE LINDSAY GETTING EMOTIONAL, UNDERSTANDABLY SO. AS YOU JUST MENTIONED, THE GROUP OF BARS, RESTAURANTS, BUSINESSES DOWN THERE, THAT IS A FAMILY. THEY ALL SEEM TO LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER. IT IS A TIGHTKNIT GROUP, NOT KNOWING SOMEONE WHO IS POTENTIALLY INJURED IN THE SHOOTING. MEREDITH: SHE WAS SHARING THAT WHILE WE WERE WATCHING THE FOOTAGE, SAYING THAT YOU HAVE COWORKERS WHO WORK AT DIFFERENT BARS, EVERYBODY HAS POTENTIALLY SEVERAL JOBS, AND THEN YOUR PHONE IS BEING BLOWN UP BY ASKING A SIMPLE QUESTION THAT YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU WOULD RECEIVE : ARE YOU ALIVE? SHE WAS SHARING JUST HOW EMOTIONAL SHE WAS THINKING WHAT IS MY MOM GOING TO WAKE UP TO TOMORROW? IS SHE GOING TO THINK THAT HER DAUGHTER WAS HURT WHILE JUST GOING TO WORK LAST NIGHT? THOSE REAL-TIME CONSEQUENCES AND REALITIES. THERE WAS A SHOOTING, AND THEN THOSE RIPPLE EFFECTS JUST START. I KIND OF FRUSTRATION AND ANGER MIXED WITH SADNESS OF JUST NORMAL PEOPLE AND FAMILIES JUST TRYING TO ENJOY A SATURDAY NIGHT. BACK TO YOU. KELLY: INCREDIBLY BUSY TIME OF THE NIGHT. TO REITERATE WHAT RICHARD HAD MENTIONED, AT THIS POINT, ALL INJURIES SEEM AS IF THEY ARE NON-LIFE-THREATENING. THAT IS STILL BEI

Over-the-Rhine bar owner recounts moments people sought shelter during mass shooting

Updated: 8:43 AM EDT Aug 7, 2022

Witnesses of Sunday morning’s shooting in Over-the-Rhine are shaken up, with many telling WLWT they’ve never seen such a large police presence in the area.It very quickly went from a comfortable Saturday night, the rain had cleared and people were enjoying their night out to a night of chaos and confusion. At The Hub on Main Street, a video premier was being hosted at the time the shots began to ring out. Lindsey Swadner, owner of The Hub, tells WLWT that she heard somewhere around 30 shots ring out in two different time periods; about 10 shots, then a few seconds later, about 20 shots. She says after that, that’s when the chaos erupted. People began to run and find safety moments after they were enjoying a night out with friends and family. The Hub became a safe haven, with multiple people running inside to seek cover and safety.” There was probably about 25 to 30 shots fired off in two separate rounds.You had first where it went ‘bang, bang, bang, bang,’ we all start looking around going, ‘Was it over?’ And then you heard ‘bang, bang, bang, bang’ and everyone started running inside of wherever you could go,” Swadner recalled. “And so we started pulling people inside. I made sure everyone was inside, I walked up the street to see what happened and there was, of course, more shooting victims, I’m not sure how many.” people seeking cover inside The Hub was a wedding party.”I saw two men laying on the ground, kind of holding their leg, so, shot in the legs. There was another man who was sitting in a chair and he seemed to be unable to move,” Swadner added. “There was another man on the ground, I’m pretty sure they were giving him chest compressions or somebody was over him. I went back down there, maybe 15 minutes later, to try to walk somebody home down the street. Everything was roped off, or taped off. They were trying to get them more tape, they ran out of tape, and that’s when the man in the chair had to be lifted out of the chair not realized he had been shot.”

CINCINNATI—

Witnesses of Sunday morning’s shooting in Over-the-Rhine are shaken up, with many telling WLWT they’ve never seen such a large police presence in the area.

It very quickly went from a comfortable Saturday night, the rain had cleared and people were enjoying their night out to a night of chaos and confusion.

At The Hub on Main Street, a video premiere was being hosted at the time the shots began to ring out.

Lindsey Swadner, owner of The Hub, tells WLWT that she heard somewhere around 30 shots ring out in two different time periods; about 10 shots, then a few seconds later, about 20 shots. She says after that, that’s when the chaos erupted. People began to run and find safe moments after they were enjoying a night out with friends and family.

The Hub became a safe haven, with multiple people running inside to seek cover and safety.

“There was probably about 25 to 30 shots fired off in two separate rounds. You had first where it went ‘bang, bang, bang, bang,’ we all start looking around going, ‘Was it over?’ And then you heard ‘bang, bang, bang, bang’ and everyone started running inside of wherever you could go,” Swadner recalled. “And so we started pulling people inside. I made sure everyone was inside, I walked up the street to see what happened and there was, of course, more shooting victims, I’m not sure how many.”

She added that among the people seeking cover inside The Hub was a wedding party.

“I saw two men laying on the ground, kind of holding their leg, so, shot in the legs. There was another man who was sitting in a chair and he seemed to be unable to move,” Swadner added. “There was another man on the ground, I’m pretty sure they were giving him chest compressions or somebody was over him. I went back down there, maybe 15 minutes later, to try to walk somebody home down the street. Everything was roped off, or taped off. They were trying to get them more tape, they ran out of tape, and that’s when the man in the chair had to be lifted out of the chair not realized he had been shot.”