CINCINNATI — A Clermont County mother and her 14-year-old son said they were caught in the middle of what Cincinnati police described as a "running gunfight" on Reading Road in North Avondale Monday evening.
Robin Knippenberg said she was delivering a grocery order to the Harmon Manor apartment complex while her son Jakob sat in the passenger seat of her Bronco.
She said she was closing the back hatch when she heard a flurry of gunfire close to her.
"I get under the car and I yell get down," Knippenberg told us Tuesday.
WATCH: Mother and 14-year-old son describe a shootout beside their car, call for solutions
Jakob said he first thought the pops were fireworks, but turned to see between 20 to 30 people running and screaming.
He said he got into the floorboards of the car and called 911, then peeked back over the door frame.
"I saw the guy standing nearly three feet from my door, and he's shooting back at the people shooting towards us, and that's when I froze up," he said. "I ducked down. I told the dispatcher I'm going to die. I'm going to die here. I need help."
Bullets did not hit him or his mom, but the terrifying experience led them to reach out to WCPO to tell their story and ask city officials to get a handle on the quickly rising violent crime rates.
Cincinnati city leaders laid out a plan to fight back against an uptick in violent crime Tuesday morning.
RELATED: How Cincinnati plans to combat recent surge in violent crime
Jakob and Knippenberg showed us pictures of shell casings and a handgun magazine surrounded by crime scene markers sitting beside their car.
Both wanted to see a faster, more urgent police response to the shooting and called for more to be done to prevent shootings from happening.
"Police and the fire department should have way more funding and take priority into account," Jakob said.
Jakob said part of his long-term solution is to become a firefighter and be available to help when needed.
"There needs to be actually a change because many, many people get injured or killed, and nothing happens about it," he said.
When we reached out to police on Tuesday to ask about the investigation into Monday's shooting, a spokesperson told us the 40-year-old victim may have shot himself and couldn't say how anyone else was involved.
