A 27-year-old Cincinnati man was arrested by federal agents last Friday after investigators say ballistics evidence tied guns recovered from him to a double homicide and two additional shootings across the city. Lamont Champion appeared in federal court that same day on a charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, prosecutors say.
According to Local 12, investigators first recovered a firearm from Champion back in June, and ballistics testing allegedly matched that gun to shell casings recovered from a February shooting that killed two people at the Villages of Roll Hill. U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II said Champion allegedly possessed a firearm previously used to murder two individuals in Cincinnati and used a second firearm in two other shootings, according to the WLWT account of the case.
A Second Gun, Two More Shootings
Federal agents executed a search warrant at Champion's home last Friday and recovered a second firearm, a 9mm handgun. Investigators allege that gun was used in a July shooting on East Clifton Avenue and again in August, when Champion allegedly fired at people inside a vehicle near the Enclave Event Center, per the same Local 12 report.
Prosecutors say the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, the federal database known as NIBIN, indicated the same firearm was used in both the July and August shootings. The system has become a routine tool for tying scattered shooting scenes together: the ATF's own fact sheet, cited by gunplace.com, shows NIBIN held more than 7.7 million pieces of ballistic evidence as of its latest update, and during fiscal year 2025 alone, 418 NIBIN locations acquired 623,142 pieces of evidence and generated 193,269 leads, according to gunplace.com. Federal researchers describe the program as having the potential to find links in firearm cases that can quickly assist an investigation, per the National Institute of Justice's video briefing on the technology. gunplace.com also notes that a NIBIN link between cartridge cases does not by itself establish who possessed or fired the gun during each incident or prove criminal guilt.
Phone Messages Referenced in Court
The Department of Justice said Champion's phone contained text and audio messages about his ability to shoot and kill people, and that he referred to himself as the reaper in some of those messages. Officials said the messages described the events of one shooting and mockingly described a victim's reaction to being shot, according to the WLWT report drawn from Justice Department filings.
Prosecutors also said Champion has previous felony convictions involving fentanyl and firearms crimes. Gerace said federal authorities continue working with the ATF and the Cincinnati Police Department through the Crime Gun Intelligence Center, known as CGIC, which the U.S. Attorney's Office describes as a partnership aimed at identifying crime guns.
Part of a Broader Federal Push in Cincinnati
Champion's arrest follows a series of federal firearms cases filed in the Southern District of Ohio this year as part of an effort to reduce violent crime in Cincinnati. In March, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced federal firearms charges against nine additional defendants in the city, with seven of those individuals facing charges alleging possession of a gun with a felony record and two facing machine-gun possession allegations, according to Local 12. That same month, federal charges were filed against Franeek Cobb, 24, and Derrick Long, 29, for allegedly possessing a firearm or ammunition as convicted felons in connection with a separate Cincinnati mass shooting case, as reported by Fox19.
The Justice Department's Southern District of Ohio office said Champion appeared in federal court for an initial appearance following his arrest, according to a statement posted to the Southern District of Ohio's website. The office's broader news feed has also flagged the case among arrests involving firearms allegedly connected to multiple homicides and shootings across the city.
