This press conference comes 11 months after the 2024 mass shooting in which one person was killed and nearly 30 others were hurt.
In Akron, Ohio, Mayor Shammas Malik and various city officials held a press conference focusing on public safety, just one month ahead of Malik’s upcoming State of the City Address.
During the press conference, 3News’ Kaitor Kay inquired about any developments concerning the unsolved mass shooting that occurred on June 2 last year. The tragic incident resulted in one fatality and nearly 30 injuries in the vicinity of Kelly and 8th avenues during the nighttime.
Akron Police Chief Brian Harding addressed the inquiry regarding the unsolved case, stating, “I don’t have a large update on that. I will tell you we continue to work on that. I envision that here in the next month we’ll be coming up with some even more information and following up and talking through that as we get closer to the one-year anniversary. We still have a detective who’s dedicated almost exclusively to that case so he continues to work on that. We’ve seen a significant increase and continue to follow up with the victims in any leads that we get.”
DOWNWARD TRENDS
At the start of the press conference, Chief Harding outlined the following data for the first quarter of the year:
- Calls for service decreased 7 percent
- 911 calls down roughly 5 percent
- Shootings/shots-fired calls down 9 percent
- Firearms-related offenses down 40 percent
- Shootings in habitation down more than 32 percent
- Overdose deaths down 59 percent
- Robbery down 39 percent
- Felonious assault down 37 percent
- Burglary is around even
- Breaking and entering down 7 percent
- Auto thefts down 28 percent
- Use-of-force incidents down 27 percent
- Assaults on officers down around 56 percent
Chief Harding noted, however, an increase in sexual assaults. He said there were 77 reported rapes in 2023, which decreased to 50 last year. For the first quarter of 2025, though, Chief Harding said that number is currently at 73.
“We’ve seen an increase in juvenile on juvenile-related sexual assaults,” he said.
Chief Harding said the city has seen one deadly shooting so far this year involving an adult. There have also been 11 non-fatal shootings.
“We are focused on tackling gun violence, and we are really heartened to see some of the statistics that we shared this morning in terms of positive trends,” Mayor Malik said. “I think it reflects a lot of amazing work done day in and day out by our APD officers, and I want to thank each and every one of them for their hard work in helping us create a safer community.”
