Backdrop Got Me Here: Dayton, Ohio

Thousands of mourners crowd Dayton’s Historic Oregon District less than 24 hours after a mass shooting shocked the city.

Avery Kreemer

I moved to Dayton for the summer to work as an intern reporting for Dayton Daily News. It was my first time living on my own, and the first time I was paid to do more than take someone’s taco order or sustain repeat paper cuts during my short stint at an office job on campus.

In a lot of ways, I felt completely unprepared for this sort of experience, and I had hoped for a slow-news summer to help me gradually immerse myself into uncharted territory.

I moved to Dayton shortly after Memorial Day, the weekend an outbreak of tornadoes ripped through much of the city. It removed hundreds of people from their homes and caused millions of dollars’ worth of damage around the city.

As I moved myself into the relatively unfamiliar area, I was fairly surprised to find that things around me were untouched. I’m not sure why, but I expected the entire city to bear the bruises. Small mindedly, I think this made me subconsciously discount the impact that the tornadoes had on the community.

I later learned that the tornado damage was mainly contained to the city’s north side, which also happened to be some of the poorest parts of the area, about 20 minutes away from my new home.

I was shadowing a two-person TV crew when I first saw hints of damage. We entered a neighborhood where over half the homes had destroyed roofs. Our reporter planned to knock on doors, hoping a resident would invite us inside and tell us about how the storm changed their life.

The first knock turned up a willing interviewee. It was his childhood home that was damaged, and he was up from Texas to help his brother get things back in order.

I got a feeling from that man as he gave us a tour of his home that was reflected in the many others that I talked to about the tornadoes during my time in Dayton. People, overall, were tired. They kept their heads down, doing what they had to do to get things back to normal. The relative randomness of the tornado meant that no one was prepared and there was no plan for recovery.

This did, however, leave space for an entire community to come together, support tornado victims and help with longterm recovery. Thousands volunteered for cleanup, even more donated money and goods, businesses ran fundraisers, organizations worked to rehouse people who had lost their homes, legal experts educated victims and more.

Dayton’s ability to come together around tragedy seemed to offer promise that it could come out of the tragedy better than before. Unfortunately, Dayton had to do it again early August, after a shooter opened fire for roughly 30 seconds in the Historic Oregon District, the city’s prominent nightlife hub.

That day, nine people were shot and killed, including the assailant’s sibling. Seventeen more were shot and injured, including the assailant’s longtime friend. The victims’ friends, families and thousands of others were left reeling. Massive damage was done in under a minute.

In less than 24 hours, local leaders and over a thousand mourners gathered for a candlelight vigil, offering support in the same street the atrocity occurred. Thoughts and prayers were offered, but Dayton residents wanted change. Hundreds chanted “Do something,” as Gov. Mike DeWine spoke before the crowd.

The shooting forced Dayton to once again come to terms with a tragedy that was relatively random; but this time enacted by one of its own residents. Looking back, I think Dayton was and is so adamant for change on the mass shooting front because—of the two tragedies it endured this summer—the shooting was the one that residents believed laws and awareness could have prevented.

Soon after the vigil, DeWine released a plan to curb gun violence, focused on gun legislation and mental health funding. He conceded that Daytonians were right to demand change, and that it was the responsibility of Ohio’s officials to see it through.

In many ways after the tornado outbreak, Dayton showed that it could come together to offer support. After the mass shooting, the city’s response evolved to using that same togetherness for change.

I viewed all of this through unique lenses; as a new reporter, as a temporary resident and as a person that was only recently removed from the bubble of Athens.

Ultimately, I moved out of Dayton with a much deeper appreciation for the city and its people, Dayton Daily News and other news outlets and organizations that tirelessly worked to help the victims, and the ability of a large group of people to heal and demand change.

I gained these perspectives because I was chosen to do a job, and I was chosen because of my experience at Backdrop. A lot of what I learned over the summer is hard to put into words, but they’re lessons that I will gratefully hold onto and put into action here on campus and in the rest of my career.