Cincinnati police identify suspect after deadly 2022 shooting in Evanston
AS STUDENTS HEAD OFF TO COLLEGE, THIS IS. NEWS 5 LEADING THE WAY. A VICIOUS ATTACK OR A DRUNKEN BRAWL. TODAY WE HEARD SEVERAL DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF WHAT HAPPENED ALONG FOURTH AND ELM LAST MONTH. THANKS FOR JOINING US HERE AT 5:00. I’M SHEREE PAOLELLO AND I’M MIKE DARDIS. A LOT OF THINGS OUT THERE AT PLAY. FIVE OF THE SIX PEOPLE INDICTED IN THE BRAWL ACTUALLY FACED A JUDGE AGAIN TODAY. WLWT NEWS FIVE’S KARIN JOHNSON LIVE RIGHT NOW, WALKING US THROUGH WHAT HAPPENED IN COURT. HI, KAREN. WELL. HEY, MIKE. THAT’S RIGHT. CLASHING ACCOUNTS OF WHAT HAPPENED TODAY. WE HEARD PROSECUTORS CALL JERMAINE MATTHEWS THE INSTIGATOR, BUT HIS ATTORNEY, BRANDON FOX, SAYS HE IS NOT THE INSTIGATOR. AND HE ACTUALLY HAS VIDEO. HE SAYS FROM WOMAN WHO WITNESSED IT ALL. THAT WILL PROVE IT. AND WHAT SHE PLANS TO TESTIFY TO IS THAT THE WHITE INDIVIDUAL IN THE GREEN SHIRT WAS STANDING ON THE CORNER WITH TWO WOMEN. HE GOT ENGAGED IN A VERBAL ALTERCATION WITH A SEPARATE DEFENDANT. THAT MAN THEN LEFT THAT CORNER WHERE MR. MATTHEWS AND HIS CAR WERE, AND RETRIEVED THE TWO OTHER WHITE INDIVIDUAL, THE MALES. THEY CAME TO THAT CORNER LOOKING FOR A FIGHT. THEY BEGAN KICKING MR. MATTHEWS CARS. SO. YES, MR. GANNON, HE WAS CONCERNED ABOUT HIS CARS BECAUSE THOSE INDIVIDUALS WERE ATTACKING HIS CAR FOR NO REASON. THAT WAS THE CATALYST OF EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED. IT WAS A MUTUAL COMBAT. IT WAS A BRAWL. THE MAIN INSTIGATORS OF THIS EVENT AND PROSECUTOR KIP GANNON, DISAGREED WITH THAT VERSION OF EVENTS. HE SAID THE MALE DEFENDANTS FOLLOWED THE VICTIMS, TELLING THEM, QUOTE, YOU ARE AT THE WRONG PARTY. GANNON ALSO SAID JERMAINE MATTHEWS WAS THE LEADER OF THE ATTACK. HE SAID, LOOK AT THE VIDEO CIRCULATING AND YOU WILL SEE HIM IN RED PARTICIPATING IN THE ENTIRE BEATING. ACCORDING TO PROSECUTORS, THE WOMEN WHO WERE CHARGED WERE NOT PART OF THE ORIGINAL FIGHT. BUT THEN INTERJECTED THEMSELVES, CAUSING CONCUSSIONS TO AT LEAST TWO OF THE VICTIMS. HERE’S GANNON SPEAKING ABOUT ONE OF THE DEFENDANTS, KYRA VERNON. AS THE FIGHT PROGRESSED, SHE INTERJECTED HERSELF THESE PEOPLE HAD NO CONTACT WITH HER, YET SHE SAW AN OPPORTUNITY. SHE JUMPED INTO THE MELEE. SHE KICKED, SHE STOMPED AND HAD DIRECT CONTACT THAT CAUSED CONCUSSIONS TO THESE TWO PARTICULAR VICTIMS. AND GANNON ALSO ADDRESSED ANOTHER ISSUE THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT, WHETHER RACIAL SLURS WERE THROWN AROUND AND THE PROSECUTOR SAYS, YES, THEY WERE. BUT HE SAYS YOU DIDN’T HEAR THEM UNTIL ONE MINUTE, 47 SECONDS INTO THE ATTACK. HE SAYS THAT’S AFTER AT LEAST ONE PERSON WAS ALREADY BEATEN. REPORTING LIVE DOWNTOWN KAREN JOHNSON, WLWT NEWS FIVE. KAREN, LET’S TALK ABOUT BOND FOR THE SUSPECTS. WHAT HAPPENED TODAY? YEAH, YOU KNOW, IT DEPENDS UPON THE PERSON. I CAN TELL YOU. THE TWO WOMEN HAD THEIR BONDS REDUCED TO $25,000 EACH, AND THEY’RE ALLOWED TO POST 10%. MERIWETHER, YOU MAY REMEMBER, HE’S THE ONE WHO WAS ALREADY OUT ON BOND FOR A GUN CHARGE WHEN THE ASSAULT HAPPENED. HIS WILL REMAIN AT $500,000. THAT IS THE HIGHEST. WE ACTUALLY HAVE A LIST OF ALL OF THE DEFENDANTS AND WHAT THEIR BONDS WERE SET AT, WHETHER THEY WERE LOWERED REMAIN THE SAME. ON WLWT.COM. BACK TO YOU GUYS. ALL RIGHT. KAREN JOHNSON REPORTING LIVE FOR US TONIGHT. KAREN, THANKS SO MUCH. PASTOR LESLIE JONES, WHO WORKS WITH THE AMOS PROJECT, SAYS THAT SHE’S GLAD THE JUDGE REDUCED THE BONDS FOR SOME OF THE SUSPECTS. SHE SAYS THAT JUSTICE WOULD MEAN ARRESTING EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THAT BRAWL. AT THIS POINT, WE CAN ONLY KEEP DEMANDING THAT THESE ANSWERS COME FORTH AND WE’RE TRYING NOT TO SPECULATE. BUT IT DOESN’T, YOU KNOW, IT DOES NOT LOOK OR SOUND LIKE THEY’RE THERE’S ACTUALLY A GOOD DUE PROCESS AND JUSTICE HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. PASTOR JONES IS SAYING THAT THE AMOS PROJECT PLANS TO CONTINUE TO PRESSURE CITY AND POLICE LEADERS, ALONG WITH THE CITY SOLICITOR, TO FILE MORE CHARGES AND TO DROP THE RIOTING CHARGES. NEW TONIGHT, THE COUNCIL MEMBER WHO DEFENDED HER FACEBOOK COMMENT THAT THE BRAWL VICTIMS BEGGED FOR THE BEATDOWN, HAS RESIGNED FROM A COUNTY COMMISSION. VICTORIA PARKS WROTE TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMMISSION ANNOUNCING SHE WAS IMMEDIATELY LEAVING THE HAMILTON COUNTY VETERANS SERVICES COMMISSION. IN HER RESIGNATION LETTER, PARKS WRITING, I APPRECIATE YOUR APPOINTMENT AND I’M PROUD OF THE WORK THE COMMISSION HAS ACCOMPLISHED TO IMPROVE SERVICES AND SUPPORT TO OUR VETERANS. SHE DID NOT MAKE ANY REFERENCE AT ALL TO THE BACKLASH THAT SHE HAS FACED HERE IN RECENT WEEKS. WELL, RAIN CHANCES KIND OF LESSENED AS WE HEAD TOWARD THE WEEKEND, BUT THE HEAT DOES CRANK UP. YEAH IT DOES. CHIEF METEOROLOGIST KEVIN ROBINSON HERE. NOW TO SHOW US HOW HOT IT’S GOING TO FEEL IN CINCINNATI’S MOST ACCURATE FORECAST. HI THERE. HEY, GUYS. FOR A CHANGE, I’M HAPPY TO BE ABLE TO REPORT ON THIS THURSDAY EVENING THAT RADAR IS RELATIVELY QUIET OUT THERE NOW. WE DO HAVE SOME CLOUDS THAT HAVE OCCASIONALLY TRIED TO BUBBLE UP, AND THERE HAVE BEEN 1 OR 2 VERY STRAY DOWNPOURS AROUND THE WLWT VIEWING AREA. BUT AS YOU CAN SEE RIGHT NOW, ALL THINGS ARE QUIET FOR US. AND I THINK THAT’S THE WAY IT’S GOING TO GO HERE THIS EVENING. CERTAINLY A WARM DAY, ALTHOUGH WE HAVE SEEN HUMIDITY DROP DOWN JUST A SMIDGE OUT THERE, EVEN IF IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE IT. TEMPERATURES ARE GENERALLY IN THE UPPER 80S, RIGHT, KNOCKING ON THE DOOR OF 90 FOR MOST OF US. SO WHEN YOU FACTOR IN THE HUMIDITY, IT DOES MAKE IT FEEL LIKE IT’S CURRENTLY IN THE LOW 90S OUT THERE. SO WE’VE GOT A MAINLY DRY AND, YOU KNOW, TYPICALLY WARM AUGUST EVENING ON TAP. WELL, MIKE AND SHEREE, WHILE THE HEAT RIGHT NOW IS TYPICAL FOR AUGUST, WE’RE GOING TO DIAL IT UP AND MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE OVER THE WEEKEND FOR US. SO WE’LL TALK ABOUT THE RISE IN TEMPERATURES AND WHA
Cincinnati police identify suspect after deadly 2022 shooting in Evanston
Updated: 9:24 PM EDT Aug 14, 2025
A suspect has been charged more than three years after a man was shot and killed in Evanston.The shooting happened on June 27, 2022, in the 3400 block of Woodburn Avenue.Cincinnati police officers responded to the street and found John Wilson, 37, who had been shot. He died at the scene of the shooting.On Thursday, the Cincinnati Police Department’s Homicide Unit charged Dearius Williams, 20, with murder in connection to the shooting.Williams was already in jail after being accused of another shooting in Evanston that happened in February 2024. The investigation by the Cincinnati Police Department’s Homicide Unit is ongoing. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Homicide Unit at 513-352-3542
A suspect has been charged more than three years after a man was shot and killed in Evanston.
The shooting happened on June 27, 2022, in the 3400 block of Woodburn Avenue.
Cincinnati police officers responded to the street and found John Wilson, 37, who had been shot. He died at the scene of the shooting.
On Thursday, the Cincinnati Police Department’s Homicide Unit charged Dearius Williams, 20, with murder in connection to the shooting.
Williams was already in jail after being accused of another shooting in Evanston that happened in February 2024.
The investigation by the Cincinnati Police Department’s Homicide Unit is ongoing. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Homicide Unit at 513-352-3542