An 11-year-old girl was fatally shot at a playground in the West End on Thursday evening, according to Cincinnati police.
On Friday morning, Cincinnati police identified the girl as Queener’Re Reed.
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Officers responded to reports of a shooting near Laurel Playground, located at West Liberty Street and John Street, around 6 p.m.
When authorities arrived, they discovered an 11-year-old girl with a gunshot wound, according to police.
According to police, emergency personnel transported the girl to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where she died.
Police did not say what led up to the shooting.
Noah O’Brien, a member of the West End Community Council, wants the city to explore other ways to address the neighborhood’s violence.
“It’s day one of 2026 and we’re already dealing with this,” said O’Brien. “This is every single day, every single week. We have every year, between 30 and 40 people shot in this one neighborhood that has 6,800 residents. That’s a lot of people … This all needs to be on the table: increasing rewards; increasing cameras; increasing plain clothes officers, undercover; walking some of these very high crime areas; and then we need to deconcentrate poverty.”
In a statement, interim Chief Adam Hennie described the shooting as a “heartbreaking and senseless act of violence.”
“No child should ever lose their life to gun violence,” Hennie said. “This incident is devastating, and our thoughts are with everyone who is grieving during this incredibly difficult time.”
Anyone with information on the shooting is requested to contact police at 513-352-3040.
