The upper deck ramp from the Western Hills Viaduct to northbound Interstate 75 was shut down early Tuesday as Cincinnati police investigated a shooting on Guerley Road in West Price Hill. A 911 caller reported someone shot in the 4600 block of Guerley Road around 3:40 a.m., and officers who responded found a pursuit had been reported before they located a person who had been shot.
According to FOX19, police closed the viaduct ramp and called the fire department to respond to the scene after finding the shooting victim. Officers also remained on Guerley Road, where they found shell casings as investigators worked the case. As of Tuesday morning, police had not provided updates at either location, and a department spokesman had not immediately responded to a request for comment, the station reported.
A Stretch of Roadway With a Troubled History
Tuesday's closure adds to a string of gunfire incidents that have struck the viaduct and the elevated roadway connecting it to I-75 in recent years. In November 2023, 26-year-old UC doctoral student Aaditya Adlakha died two days after he was shot on the viaduct and taken to UC Medical Center, according to WCPO. Officers closed the viaduct for around two hours while investigating that shooting, and police said at the time they had not determined whether Adlakha was targeted or struck by gunfire unintentionally, and had not released suspect information.
Months later, a 7-year-old named Jojo Hayes was injured in a shooting near the viaduct along southbound I-75, with police saying the child's injuries were believed to be non-life-threatening. WCPO's report on that incident noted that District 3 officers responded to the area just after 1 p.m. that day, and police later arrested Michael Walker, charging him with three counts of felonious assault and one count of improper discharge of a firearm.
Earlier Gunfire Involving an Officer
The viaduct was also the site of a 2021 incident in which a Cincinnati police officer fired at a suspect during a drug investigation, as reported by Cincinnati.com. That account described an undercover, plainclothes officer who had been following the suspect after allegedly witnessing a drug transaction before the gunfire erupted.
No details have been released connecting Tuesday's shooting to any of those earlier cases, and investigators have not said whether the reported pursuit was tied to the gunfire, who was struck, or what led up to the confrontation near Guerley Road. The ramp reopened around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday.
