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Generations of residents tormented by gun violence

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CINCINNATI — Generations of families are living with the torment of gun violence on Derrick Turnbow Avenue in Cincinnati’s West End.

District One police are looking for those responsible for the weekend drive-by shooting of a 20-year-old man on Derrick Turnbow Avenue near TQL stadium.

It was less than two weeks ago that a stray bullet flew through a home and hit a child, also on Derrick Turnbow Avenue.

“You’re in survival mode,” Keiana Rogers said.

Rogers is a cousin to the hospitalized 20-year-old.

“People don’t look at it like, ‘Oh, this is really somebody’s life.’ This is real life. This is impacting everybody’s family and the city,” Rogers said.

At least three generations on Turnbow Avenue have lived with the trauma of gunfire.

It was 1990 when the street was named after Derrick Turnbow, a student who was paralyzed after he was struck by a stray bullet.

President George H.W. Bush along with entertainers and strangers from across the country visited the honor student at the hospital before he died at the age of 18 years old.

In an interview at the time, he said his proudest moments were graduating with his Taft High School class and seeing the street named in his honor.

“There have been a lot of days that I didn’t think would come, but I’m walking down that aisle,” Turnbow said.

31 years later, Rogers wants solutions to the same problem.

“At some point, when is it going to stop? How is it going to stop?” Rogers said.

Rogers and her family want brighter streetlights and cameras above Derrick Turnbow Avenue, along with job training and mental health services for the community. They also want someone to step up and turn in those responsible for the shootings.

“People don’t care until it impacts their family. But the sad part is, people do not want to talk about it, because they don’t want to be looked at as a tattle-tale or a snitch,” Rogers said.

She shared a warning for the neighborhood.

“Guess what? It’s going to keep happening if we don’t get these devils off the street,” Rogers said.