‘Truly tragic;’ 22-year-old mother shot, killed day before her birthday

DAYTON — Dayton police are asking for community help to stem a rising tide of gun violence.

As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, this comes after 17 people were shot in 72 hours.

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Donna Zile was fatally shot in the area of Home and Euclid Avenues around 12:50 a.m. Monday, News Center 7 previously reported.

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A large party in front of a vacant home became a time of terror when someone drove by, spraying dozens of bullets.

Dailaquan Fuller said it’s ridiculous that Dayton has had six shootings in the last five days.

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It’s resulted in two deaths and 17 people hit by gunfire.

“That’s scary because I got two kids,” Fuller said.

Assistant Police Chief Eric Henderson is actively taking steps to stop gun violence.

“This is truly tragic, what has occurred in the last three to four days in our community,” Henderson.

The department seized more than 1,000 guns last year in 2023. So far, in 2024, they’ve taken 545 guns off the streets, 45 ahead of last year’s pace. That’s more than 1500 guns grabbed since the start of 2023.

Police constantly take people into custody who are carrying a gun despite a previous felony conviction. 63 of those arrests last year and another 113 so far this year.

“It’s really just a small segment of our community and a lot of them are repeat offenders,” Henderson said.

Police are urging anyone with information that can prevent gun crimes to call them, it’s about safety in the community.

Police are working hard to identify the gunman and make arrests in all of these investigations, successfully in two of the six so far.

According to a GoFundMe page set up in support of Zile’s family, she was killed a day before her birthday and had two children.

We will continue updating this story.

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