CINCINNATI -- Dwight Crawford might have been one of the last people to see Jamie Urton alive, he said Friday night.
The pair were coworkers at the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired; around noon on March 24, Urton and another coworker left for their lunch break. Crawford thought little of it.
"I said, 'I'll see you when I get back,'" he said.
He never would. According to police, Urton was shot and killed that day after striking a 4-year-old child with his car while driving down Kenton Street in Walnut Hills. The child's father, Jamall Killings, pulled Urton from the car and beat him, according to Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, before another man, Deonte Baber, delivered the killing shot.
Killings initially denied any knowledge of the shooting, but turned himself in to police and pleaded not guilty after he and Baber were both charged with murder.
While police continued working to locate Baber, who has remained on the run since Urton's death, Urton's friends, coworkers and supporters gathered on Kenton Street Friday night for a vigil in remembrance of a man they described as kind, friendly and dedicated to helping others.
"I'm here for a minute and then I'm gone for a minute. This has affected me so bad," Crawford said. "They not only took my best friend, but they took a great human being to a lot of people, and they took away one of God's treasures."
Mitch Morris, who works to support and counsel the families of homicide victims through Cincinnati Works, said he didn't know Urton, but he knows violence. He implored Baber to follow Killings' lead by turning himself in to the police.
"Think about what has happened. Clear your heart and just turn yourself in and let's get this thing behind you," he said. "There is still life after this."
Police said that Baber should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information about his whereabouts should call Crimestoppers or 911.
