A late-night stretch of Northside's nightlife corridors turned into a crime scene on May 26, and now a Cincinnati man is sitting in jail on a $2 million bond, accused of pulling the trigger in a quadruple shooting that left one person critically hurt.
The suspect, Jah'mir Neal, was arrested and arraigned Thursday in connection with the Northside shooting that wounded four people. Prosecutors say he faces four counts of felonious assault, and a Hamilton County judge ordered him held on a $2 million bond following the hearing.
According to court papers, Neal was in the Spring Grove Avenue area on May 26 when he got into an argument, told another man he planned to take his gun, then allegedly stepped out of his vehicle and opened fire on that man and three others. All four victims were expected to survive, though one was critically injured, according to WKRC.
Officers responding to the late-night chaos found four people shot and rushed them to local hospitals. Police placed evidence markers in a nearby parking lot as they worked the scene. Early dispatch traffic put the incident near Hamilton Avenue and the Northside Transit Center, where investigators searched for a fleeing vehicle, as reported by FOX19.
The arrest comes on the heels of a string of gun incidents in Northside, a neighborhood that has seen multiple late-night shootings along Hamilton Avenue and nearby blocks. The area has wrestled with the tension between a busy bar-and-restaurant scene and periodic outbreaks of violence that have been tracked across several episodes and court cases, reflecting growing local concern about what happens after dark.
Legal charges and what they mean
Neal is charged with four counts of felonious assault. Under Ohio law, felonious assault is defined in Ohio Revised Code §2903.11 and is generally classified as a felony of the second degree. Certain circumstances can bump that classification higher and trigger mandatory prison time, according to the Ohio Revised Code.
Cincinnati police say the investigation is still active, and detectives are asking anyone with video or information to contact the department. Authorities had not released a possible motive as of the arraignment, according to WKRC.
