Bemnet Deresse, 27, a man of Ethiopian origin, died on August 31, 2025, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was found after an afternoon burst of gunfire in the 1500 block of Beacon Avenue, where officers arrived around 1:30 p.m. to a scene with four people shot. Two victims died at the scene and a third later died at the hospital. Police identified the deceased as Deresse, along with sisters Eden Adugna, 22, and Feven Adugna, 20.
The violence cut short a life rooted in both Cincinnati and a faraway birthplace. Loved ones shared that he was born in Addis Ababa and had made a home in the city, where his loss was mourned by friends, classmates, and the wider Ethiopian community. At a vigil near the apartment complex, mourners spoke of three young lives halted without warning, and services were organized through the local Ethiopian Orthodox community in the days that followed.
Investigators soon named a suspect: Samuel Tyler Ericksen, 26. According to police, Ericksen died from a self-inflicted wound stemming from the same incident, leaving no arrest to be made and the Homicide Unit continuing its work to piece together what happened and why. The official update underscored the suddenness of the attack and the unanswered questions that trailed it, even as the community gathered to grieve.
Deresse's name began to circulate beyond the initial police notice as friends and family shared tributes and community pages marked his death as the result of gun violence. Remembrances painted him as diligent and kind, a young man whose path through Cincinnati connected him to schools, churches, and neighbors now left to memorialize him.
