Cincinnati: Three dead and one dead, police chief says



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The suspect is also dead, said Isaac. The leader then identified the gunman as Omar Perez, a 29-year-old man from the city of North Bend, Ohio. The shooter had a pistol and over 200 rounds, the chief said.

The investigators searched the shooter's home but there was no immediate reason indicator.

Police finished securing the building just before 11 am local time, the chief said.

The shooting started shortly after 9 o'clock. The gunman entered a loading dock and opened fire before entering the building's lobby, where three or four police officers hired him, and shots were fired, said Isaac.

Authorities respond to Thursday's shooting scene on Fountain Square in Cincinnati.

"This is not normal, and this should not be considered normal.It is abnormal.No other industrialized country has this level of multiple shots active on a regular basis," he said. Mayor John Cranley at a press conference. "I think there is something deeply sick at work here."

The University of Cincinnati Medical Center has received gunshot victims, a woman and three men, said Kelly Martin, senior director of UC Health. Two people have died, one is in critical condition and the other is in serious condition, she said.

"I heard about eight shots and I really knelt down, so I sort of fell to the ground and all the cops started coming in," said the witness James Walker at WLWT. "I'm still shaking."

Eric Kearney, president of the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, was attending a boardroom meeting across the street. He did not hear the shots, he said, but he saw emergency responders tearing victims off stretchers.

The bank's director, Greg Harshfield, told CNN's affiliate, WXIX, that he could hear the shooting from the building's upper floor.

"We heard a shot from the 29th floor," he told the station. "We could quickly see that there was a large police presence and we could see them block Fountain Square, we knew immediately that something was wrong, we were a little shaken."

The chief said that some of the victims had been shot repeatedly.

The streets and sidewalks around Fountain Square have been closed.

"People in the immediate vicinity should be kept locked up until further notice," Cincinnati police said in a tweet Thursday morning.

Police described the incident as an "active shooter / officer involved in a shooting incident" in a tweet but did not specify.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have responded to the scene and are assisting the Cincinnati police in their investigation, the offices said.

Fountain Square is a very popular monument in the center of the city. It is home to retail stores, business offices, hotels and restaurants. The Fifth Third Center is a 30-story skyscraper located on the square.

David Williams of CNN contributed to this report.

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