Anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts can call or text the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, or 800-273-8255 any time day or night, or chat online athttps://988lifeline.org/chat/.
Weeks before three people were fatally shot in Mount Washington, authorities were alerted to a call about the suspected gunman threatening suicide and texting a photo of a gun to one of the victims, police records show.
Cincinnati police said Samuel Ericksen, 26, killed 22-year-old Eden Adugna and 20-year-old Feven Adugna near a home at the intersection of Beacon Street and Glade Avenue around 1:30 p.m. on Aug 31.
Ericksen is also accused of shooting and killing 27-year-old Bemnet Deresse before turning the gun on himself. Police said Ericksen died days later on Sept. 2 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police conduct an investigation near the 1500 block of Beacon Street in Mount Washington after four people were shot on the afternoon of Aug. 31, according to Cincinnati police.
More than three weeks before the shooting, Eden Adugna called 911 on Aug. 8, saying that Ericksen had sent a text that read, “I’ve scheduled this to be sent out after I’m dead,” according to a Cincinnati police report.
Adugna told dispatchers that Ericksen had a history of suicidal ideation and also sent a picture of a gun he’d bought the previous Sunday. He also told her on that same Sunday that, “if he sees lights and sirens, he’s going to shoot himself,” the report states.
Adugna was not with Ericksen at the time of the Aug. 8 incident, which dispatchers labeled as a “suicide threat.”
According to the report, authorities tracked the location of Ericksen’s cellphone via pings. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office also sent deputies to Ericksen’s home in Anderson Township, where he lived with his parents, and spoke to his mother.
It is not clear from the records how the incident was resolved.
Police have yet to disclose the motive of the Aug. 31 shooting. An incident report states the killings did not stem from domestic violence. Police have also said they do not believe Ericksen’s actions were a hate crime.
However, Cincinnati police Lt. Jonathan Cunningham previously told The Enquirer that Ericksen “knew at least one of the victims of which he had a romantic interest.”
The incident report states that Ericksen was an “acquaintance” of the Adugna sisters and that his relationship to Deresse was unknown.
Friends, family and community gathered on Beacon Street in Mt. Washington to morn the loss of Bemnet Deresse and sisters Eden and Feven Adugna after they were fatally shot Aug. 31.
The sisters lived in Ethiopia until 2018. Tizita Adugna, their aunt, said their mother was killed by their father when the sisters were 7 and 9 years old. The older Adugna said she raised the sisters alongside their grandma.
Feven and Eden Adugna worked as pharmacy technicians at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati. They moved to the United States to support their medical careers. Eden Adugna was studying at the University of Cincinnati with dreams of becoming a doctor, according to family.
Deresse, who studied biology and engineering at UC, had just started a job as a quality engineer in Louisville.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Mount Washington shooting: Suspect sent gun photo to victim week prior