AVONDALE, OH (FOX19) -
Avondale residents are expressing outrage following Tuesday night's shooting of a 4-year-old boy.
This shooting occurs as Avondale begins to see some glimmer of improvements and now some residents like Barbara Wilson are bewildered and terrified.
"It makes me fear for the safety of me and my son and for the people around me," said Wilson.
Wilson says the shooting has got her on edge.
"I hadn't no sleep all night...it's sad," she said.
City Councilman Cecil Thomas says some residents feel like they're under siege.
"People are just frustrated that nobody's doing anything about this problem," he said. "Folks feel like they're captured inside of their own homes. They have a park right down the street here that they can't feel comfortable taking their children to."
Brandon Snell likes to take his two young daughters to the park, but now he's a little nervous.
"Its kind of dangerous sometimes when you walk out because you never know what can happen," said Snell.
Ozie Davis with the Avondale Comprehensive Development Corporation says that's the kind of fear he finds unacceptable.
"You're going to see the community respond to this senselessness. The community is going to take this neighborhood back....we will not fail," he said.
Reggie Brazzile, Program Manager of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV), says his organization is trying to make the streets safer.
"Those individuals engaged in crime have to know you've brought a spotlight to your street and the street advocates are coming," said Brazzile.
Sonja Black, a street advocate with the CIRV says she's not discouraged.
"It actually puts a drive in me to push harder to help our community to show them that this isn't the way," she said.
Street Advocate Gene Thomas says he wants to reach out to at risk youth to let them know there's an alternative to violence.
"There's a lot of things going on that the children don't know about and if they were able to have more information in terms of what the city has to offer maybe a lot of this stuff would be eliminated," he said.
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