CINCINNATI — Nearly four years after Brandi Turner was shot and killed near Grant Park in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati police say they've arrested the man responsible.
CPD identified the suspect as 24-year-old Diamonte Irby Richard, who is facing murder charges. Some community advocates feel that even with this arrest, more people need to step up to make the neighborhood safer.
WATCH: Advocates say crime remains problem near Grant Park
On Tuesday morning in Hamilton County Court, Richard appeared for a municipal charge of tampering with evidence after an alleged incident with Cincinnati police on Monday.
"He tried to, did, swallow a baggie of an unknown substance once police approached," said the prosecutor.
CPD said officers arrested Richard on an open warrant for murder that same day. While information is limited about how officers learned Richard is responsible, he's now in the Hamilton County Jail being held without bond.
The area where Turner was shot near Grant Park has been the site of several shootings over the last few years. We checked Cincinnati police crime stats and found that since January 2022, there have been 18 reported shootings in the area.
One of the shootings includes the quadruple drive-by shooting, which wounded a 10-year-old, a 14-year-old, a 15-year-old and a man in his 20s.
"There have been so many incidents, shootings and other kinds of felonious acts that you can't remember one," said Kevin Corey, executive director of Wesley Chapel Mission Center.
We caught up with Corey Tuesday afternoon at Cincinnati City Hall, after he attended our most recent WCPO community forum on violence. His nonprofit runs after-school programs, and it's located across the street from Grant Park.
"While the number of kids increased, our budgets do not increase and that's why we're here today at the budget meeting," said Corey.
We asked him if crime had gotten better since the death of Turner.
"Recently, we haven't seen much, much policing and visibility around here, maybe they are," said Corey. "When you see the car coming, as soon as you see it coming, you see it getting the heck out out of there ... I wish it was more of a concentration of the police where they actually get out of their car and actually do community policing versus community surveillance."
While Corey would like to see more officers walking the area, he preached about personal accountability and encouraging others to become part of the solution.
"It's time to take control and it's time to not just depend on other people but pull your own selves up by your own bootstraps," Corey said.
WCPO reached out to several of Turner's family members and friends for comment about the arrest of Richard, but we're still waiting to hear back.
