15-year-old girl dies after fight leads to another shooting in a Columbus park

Cole Behrens, The Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
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A 15-year-old girl died after a fight Monday afternoon turned into a shooting at Franklin Park on the Near East Side — the latest gun violence in a Columbus park.

Officers responded around 3:20 p.m. to ShotSpotter alerts and 911 calls about shots fired in a parking lot at Franklin Park off West Franklin Park Avenue, south of East Broad Street, Columbus police Assistant Chief LaShanna Potts said. When police arrived, they discovered a teenage girl suffering from a gunshot wound.

The girl was identified as 15-year-old Lovely Kendricks, of the Near East Side. She died at Nationwide Children's Hospital Monday evening.

Kendricks had attended East High School.

A spokesperson for Columbus City Schools said Kendricks was new to the school this year.

"Lovely, as her name indicates, manifested a demeanor which was pleasant, polite, and very respectful," the district said. "She always presented a positive impression towards her teachers and school community."

The district was making counselors and support staff available to students on Tuesday.

Potts said the shooting appears to have stemmed from a fight in the park involving several people, but provided little other information about the incident to media gathered for what was a brief press conference. Potts said she was not going to respond to questions about suspects or people of interest, and said the investigation is continuing.

"There used to be a time when you could have a fistfight," Potts said about teens today escalating fights into gun violence. "And that's it — you're here to see another day."

Potts insisted the city's parks are safe, though Monday’s shooting is at least the seventh shooting at or near Columbus city parks this year, resulting in at least five deaths and five injuries, including to an 8-year-old girl.

  • On April 23, Masonique Saunders, 20, was shot and killed at Saunders Park on the Near East Side, and Damarion Dawson, 19, was killed at Nafzger Park on the Southeast Side.

  • On May 4, Jessey Osorio, 19, was killed and a 17-year-old boy was wounded after a shooting in a parking lot outside the community center at Westgate Park.

  • On May 14, an 8-year-old girl was wounded after a shooting during a fight in Weinland Park.

  • On June 15, Atayia Nichols, 24, was shot and killed and two others were injured in a shooting at Glenwood Park, which was being used as a cooling station during the June power outage.

  • On Aug. 19, Miguel Arriola, 32, was shot and killed just blocks from Westgate Park while in his vehicle. A passenger was in his vehicle but was not injured.

A Division of Police program that paid overtime to volunteer officers to patrol city parks ended on Labor Day.

The shooting area is unrelated to the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, where the popular fall event Pumpkins Aglow is held.

@Colebehr_report

Cbehrens@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Franklin Park shooting leaves teenage girl dead