CINCINNATI — After a shooting at Fountain Square Monday night injured two people, including a juvenile, Cincinnati officials said they are making more changes to their downtown safety plan.
Police said two people, ages 16 and 19, were taken to UC Medical Center after a shooting outside of CityBird in Fountain Square at around 7:45 p.m. Monday. Both are expected to be OK.
Chief Teresa Theetge said in a press conference Tuesday afternoon that police have warrants for a 24-year-old man in connection with the shooting. That man is currently on probation for two counts of felonious assault that occurred in February.
Video shows two people walking out of CityBird after what police referred to as an encounter inside the restaurant. One man takes out a gun and begins shooting before the two run off.
While the video blurs the other person's face, Theetge said police are still investigating the shooting and more arrests could be coming.
Watch what officials said about the shooting and its impact here
Theetge said four officers were at Fountain Square at the time of the shooting and heard shots being fired. Police identified one juvenile who attempted to discard a firearm outside CityBird. Police recovered the gun and took the juvenile into custody. Another person whom Theetge said tried to elude officers during the search was also arrested.
"The violence we have seen on Fountain Square ... is completely and utterly beyond the pale and is absolutely intolerable, and we will stop it," Mayor Aftab Pureval said of the shooting.
Pureval said that while the city has increased patrols in the area, enforced a curfew and closed down a troublesome liquor store, more will be done to address violence.
The mayor said CPD's Civil Disturbance Response Team and SWAT will now be at Fountain Square and Government Square from 2 to 10 p.m. every day.
Additionally, Pureval said he will introduce legislation to create and enforce an even earlier curfew.
"We will move you, or we will arrest you," Pureval said to teens who remain downtown after curfew.
WATCH: We spoke with Pureval one-on-one to hear what he had to say about addressing crime
Theetge said police have identified that just being in the area is not enough and noted officers will now engage with people they say to stop violence before it happens.
"If you are smoking marijuana on Fountain Square, expect to be approached by an officer ... if you are fighting on Fountain Square ... expect the officers to intervene," Theetge said.
A closer look at shootings in Cincinnati and Downtown
Cincinnati Police Department data shows that shootings, which CPD defines as an incident where a person was struck by a bullet, are down within the city limits overall this year.
However, this data is as of Oct. 7 and does not include Monday night's shooting incident.
In fact, Cincinnati has seen a 21.61% decrease in shootings compared to last year at this time, and a 33.69% decrease since 2022 at this same time, the furthest back CPD's data portal shows.
Shooting incidents have been steadily decreasing in the city year-over-year since 2022.
That trend extends to the number of people who have been shot in the city as well.
Overall, far fewer victims have been reported in shootings compared with previous years in Cincinnati.
The city has seen a 24.83% decrease in the number of people shot this year, compared to last year at this time. That's also a 35.31% decrease from 2022 at this time.
Data does show that shootings downtown have fluctuated more in the last four years than the city-wide data.
In 2022, by Oct. 7, there were eight shootings reported. In 2023, CPD data shows that number increased to 13 reported shootings. Shootings dropped in 2024 to nine reported shootings, but have ticked back up to 13 so far this year.
Data shows the same fluctuations happened with reported victims. In 2022, 11 people had been shot Downtown as of Oct. 7. In 2023, that number rose to 17 people shot in the neighborhood in that same time frame. In 2024, 10 people were shot, and so far this year, 16 people have been shot.
Between 2022 and Oct. 7, there were no reported shootings at Fountain Square at all. In that time, there was one shooting in 2023 a block over, on Government Square that killed an 18-year-old woman and wounded a teen.
Cincinnati police data also shows that most of the reported shootings Downtown have happened between the hours of 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.
"Shots fired" incidents are more common in Cincinnati. CPD defines those incidents as times a gun was fired, but no one was shot.
In 2025 alone, CPD has responded to 2,917 reports of shots being fired in the city. But even that number is down considerably — roughly 31% — compared to the 4,241 shots fired calls CPD responded to in 2024. There were 4,935 reports of shots being fired in 2023, and 4,240 reports in 2022.
CPD's data shows the majority of shots fired reports occurred between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m., with a higher concentration reported between midnight and 5 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
In the past three years, 213 shots fired incidents have been reported downtown, data shows.
This year so far, there have been 33 reported incidents of shots fired in the downtown area — the 22nd highest neighborhood out of Cincinnati's 52 neighborhoods for calls reporting gunfire.
