Nehemiah McMillon, 12, male, Black/African American, died on July 13, 2025, after being shot in Cincinnati’s Winton Hills neighborhood. Police said officers were dispatched around 11 p.m. to the 4800 block of Este Avenue for a report of a crashed stolen vehicle. Inside the back seat, they found Nehemiah suffering from a gunshot wound and rushed him to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators said the gunfire erupted after a man pursued a vehicle that had been stolen from outside his home and then opened fire on it as it fled. Court documents and police reports identify the man as 31-year-old Darius McGrew, who, according to authorities, “chased down” the stolen car and fired multiple shots, striking Nehemiah; another juvenile later arrived at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with a gunshot wound believed to be from the same incident.
Cincinnati police arrested Darius McGrew and charged him with murder in the death of Nehemiah McMillon. In an official media release, the department confirmed Nehemiah’s identity, listed his age and gender, and stated that the homicide investigation remains active.
At a bond hearing two days later, a judge ordered Darius McGrew held on a $3 million bond, with prosecutors arguing that he took it upon himself to pursue his vehicle and that his actions were “volatile” and deadly. News reports noted that the case would be presented to a grand jury, underscoring that additional proceedings and potential charges were still to come as the investigation continued.
Neighbors described the chaos that followed the crash and shooting, recalling the terror of hearing threats shouted into nearby woods as youths scattered. Family members, who gathered for a balloon release days later, said Nehemiah McMillon, 12, was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” grieving a child they remembered as warmhearted and playful.
