COLUMBUS, Ohio — Crime prevention is a hot topic after last weekend’s shooting in the Short North, and while city leaders have taken steps to try to make the area safer, they’re also calling on the community to help.

What You Need To Know

• Community and faith leaders walked the streets of Short North Friday night to deter crime


• The group walked from midnight until 2 a.m. Friday night near where Sunday’s mass shooting happened


• They passed out sunglasses, shirts and resources for crime prevention

"Unless we engage, the forest will burn, and we're not going to let that happen,” said Pastor Eddie Parker.

Parker and business owner Jacob Gaus put a walk together, calling it "A Cry at Midnight" after last Sunday’s mass shooting. Their group walked from midnight until 2 a.m. near where the incident happened with a specific purpose in mind.

"Why midnight to 2 in the morning? Because that's when the crime seems to happen,” Parker said. “These are young children that are out here, lawless, committing crimes." 

Gaus owns Goody Boy Diner in the Short North. He said the shooting affects businesses like his, but the impact it has on the community is much worse. 

"If we don't, this will continue to happen,” Gaus said. “You know, we just got to really get on top of things and be proactive with things and not wait for incidents like this to keep happening." 

Gaus, Parker, and other community leaders spent the night passing out sunglasses, shirts, and resources for crime prevention in hopes of stopping the bloodshed once and for all. 

"Young, unsupervised youth committing crimes need to see some dads, some moms, some aunties, some uncles, some grandparents out here to say, ‘we care’,” Parker said. “We're not here to judge you, but we're here to let you know that we care and that we are watching."

Parker said that while overall crime in Columbus is down, Sunday’s incident is one too many, adding we need to act now so it doesn't happen again.